:sity  of  California 


REAL  DEMOCRACY  IN  OPERATION 


THE  EXAMPLE  OF 
SWITZERLAND 

BY 

FELIX  BONJOUR 

FORMER  PRESIDENT  OF  SWISS  NATIONAL  COUNCIL 


NEW  YORK       | 

FREDERICK  A.  STOKES  COMPANY 
PUBLISHERS 


Copyright,  1920,  by 
FREDERICK  A.  STOKES  COMPANY 


All  rights  reserved 


PREFACE 

THE  majority  of  those  who  study  the  social 
phenomena  and  the  fluctuations  of  public  opinion 
resulting  from  the  present  war,  agree  in  predict- 
ing a  considerable  advance  for  the  democratic 
idea.  This  advance  will  not  consist  merely  in 
certain  electoral  reforms  which  governments  will 
be  forced  to  concede  while  the  war  still  continues. 
Almost  everywhere  it  is  felt  that  a  more  exten- 
sive and  more  energetic  participation  in  the  po- 
litical life  and  government  of  the  nations  by  the 
democracies  of  those  nations  will  be  one  of  the 
means  of  preventing  a  recurrence  of  catastrophes 
such  as  those  which  have  laid  waste  a  portion  of 
the  globe  for  four  years.  An  Hungarian  noble- 
man, Count  Karolyi,  wrote  to  his  electors  a  few 
days  ago:  "The  necessary  preliminary  to  the 
possibility  of  peace  is  the  democratization  of  the 
States,  which  would,  as  a  result  of  this,  be  in 
opposition  to  imperialistic  excesses."  1 

1  Since  these  lines  were  written,  in  August,  1918,  unexpected 
events  in  the  theater  of  war  have  precipitated  this  movement. 
It  is  almost  unnecessary  to  call  to  remembrance  the  turn  which 
the  democratization  of  the  Central  Powers  has  taken  within 
recent  times. 

v 


2033415 


vi  PREFACE 

There  is,  therefore,  a  peculiar  interest,  at  this 
juncture,  in  surveying  the  institutions  of  those 
countries  which  in  our  own  time  have  carried 
farthest  the  application  of  the  democratic  idea. 
In  this,  without  doubt,  Switzerland  leads  the 
way.  The  practice  of  direct  democracy  has  been 
extended  there  to  an  extraordinary  degree,  and 
the  end  is  not  yet.  The  aim  of  this  little  book  is 
to  describe  the  mechanism  of  the  democratic  in- 
stitutions peculiar  to  Switzerland  and  to  explain 
the  effects  of  those  institutions.  It  is  not  intended 
to  be  either  a  scientific  treatise  of  law  or  a  collec- 
tion of  sensational  disclosures.  During  the  last 
'few  years,  more  than  at  any  other  time,  our  demo- 
cratic institutions  have  been  examined,  both  in 
Switzerland  and  in  other  countries,  by  acute  and 
well  qualified  students.  But  up  to  the  present 
there  has  perhaps  been  no  book  in  French  giving 
a  comprehensive  view  of  the  subject,  which  was 
written  for  readers  other  than  politicians  and 
jurists  which  might  be  of  interest  even  outside  our 
own  country.  Although  these  pages  are  intended 
in  the  first  instance  for  students  of  political  move- 
ments or  fbr  those  who  play  an  active  part  in 
them,  the  author  cherishes  a  hope  that  they  will 
be  read  by  others  who  do  not  come  within  either 
of  these  categories.  This  hope  has  led  him  to 
give  to  his  work  a  character  likely  to  render  it 


PREFACE  vii 

acceptable  to  those  who  usually  find  little  to  at- 
tract them  in  questions  of  constitutional  law. 

I  have  just  said  that  Switzerland  was  in  the 
vanguard  of  democratic  evolution.  That  is  con- 
sequent upon  her  origin,  her  traditions  and  the 
distinctly  democratic  nature  of  the  groups  which 
founded  the  Swiss  Confederation.  It  is  the  re- 
sult, too,  of  her  federal  organization.  There  is 
not  one  democracy  in  Switzerland;  there  are  as 
many  democracies  as  there  are  cantons  and  demi- 
cantons.  The  twenty-five  more  or  less  autono- 
mous states  which  comprise  the  Confederation  and 
this  Confederation  itself  are  political  laboratories, 
always  at  work.  They  are  all  so  many  small 
nations  animated  by  a  ceaseless  desire  to  perfect 
their  political  organization  and  to  develop  their 
democratic  institutions.  Politically  Switzerland 
offers  a  picture  almost  as  varied  in  its  character  as 
it  does  physically.  All  forms  of  popular  govern- 
ment are,  or  have  been,  practiced  in  Switzerland, 
and  the  results  of  all  of  them  can  be  studied  there 
at  the  present  time.  The  cantons  borrow  one 
from  another  those  forms  of  government  which 
appear  to  succeed  best.  When  some  new  institu- 
tion has.  worked  well  in  the  majority  of  the  can- 
tons, the  Confederation,  in  its  turn,  adopts  it  and 
applies  it  in  its  own  peculiar  province.  This  was 
what  happened  in  the  case  of  democratic  insti- 


viii  PREFACE 

tutions.     It  was  the  cantons  that  imposed  them 
upon  the   Confederation. 

Since  it  is  the  federative  organization  of  Swit- 
zerland which  has  permitted  this  democratic 
growth,  it  seems  appropriate  to  begin  with  a  dis- 
cussion of  the  Swiss  form  of  federalism. 


CONTENTS 

PAGE 

PREFACE v 

CHAPTER 

I.    FEDERALISM  IN  SWITZERLAND     .  i 

II.    THE    EVOLUTION    OF    DEMOCRACY    IN 

SWITZERLAND      .......  23 

III.  THE  LANDSGEMEINDE  .     ...     .     .     .  40 

IV.  THE  REFERENDUM 74 

V.    THE  RESULTS  OF  THE  REFERENDUM     .  92 

VI.    THE  POPULAR  INITIATIVE      .      .     .     .  116 

VII.    THE  RESULTS  OF  THE  INITIATIVE    .     .  131 

VIII.     THE  ELECTION  OF  THE  GOVERNMENT  AND 

OFFICIALS  BY  THE  PEOPLE      .     .     .  144 

IX.     DEMOCRACY  IN  THE  COMMUNES  AND  THE 

CHURCHES 159 

X.    COMPULSORY  VOTING  AND  WOMAN  SUF- 
FRAGE   1 74 

XI.     PROPORTIONAL  REPRESENTATION      .     .  180 

XII.    DEMOCRACY  IN  THE  ARMY  AND  MAIN- 
TENANCE OF  NEUTRALITY  ....  191 

XIII.    THE  FUTURE  OF  DEMOCRACY  IN  SWIT- 
ZERLAND     201 

APPENDIX 215 

INDEX  221 


REAL  DEMOCRACY  IN  OPERATION 


REAL  DEMOCRACY  IN 
OPERATION 


FEDERALISM    IN    SWITZERLAND 

SWITZERLAND  is  a  federal  Republic  consisting 
of  twenty-five  states,  cantons  or  demi-cantons, 
which  for  a  long  time  enjoyed  almost  absolute 
sovereignty,  but  which,  especially  since  1848, 
gradually  ceded  a  large  part  of  their  sovereign 
rights  to  the  people  of  the  Confederation  as  a 
whole.  Before  1848,  the  federal  bond  was  weak, 
the  central  government  almost  non-existent.  The 
central  power  was  exercised  by  a  Diet,  in  which 
all  the  cantons  were  represented  equally.  The 
members  of  the  Diet  could  make  decisions  only 
in  accordance  with  their  instructions  from  the  can- 
tons or  after  referring  the  questions  to  them. 
The  Constitution  of  1848 — the  first  permanent 
Constitution  worthy  of  the  name  that  Switzerland 
ever  had — involved  a  noteworthy  change.  After 
the  example  of  the  United  States,  two  Chambers 


2         REAL  DEMOCRACY  IN  OPERATION 

were  created,  of  which  one,  the  National  Council, 
represented  the  people,  and  the  other,  the  Council 
of  States,  composed  roughly  on  the  model  of  the 
old  Diet,  but  without  referendum  and  without  in- 
structions for  its  members,  represented  the  can- 
tons. The  two  Chambers  elected  jointly  a  cen- 
tral executive  authority — the  Federal  Council. 
Customs  and  posts  were  transferred  from  the  can- 
tons to  the  federal  government.  A  single  system 
of  weights  and  measures  was  introduced.  There 
was  a  Federal  Court,  which,  however,  was  not 
permanent,  and  a  federal  army  made  up  of  con- 
tingents from  the  cantons.  The  Confederation 
alone  had  the  right  of  representing  Switzerland 
in  foreign  affairs.  The  constitutions  of  the  can- 
tons were  subject  to  ratification  by  the  Chambers. 
The  Constitution  of  1874  added  still  further 
to  the  functions  of  the  central  authority  at  the 
expense  of  cantonal  sovereignty,  and  a  similar  ten- 
dency may  be  traced  in  nearly  all  the  minor 
changes  which  were  subsequently  adopted.  The 
Federal  Tribunal  was  made  permanent.  The 
greater  part  of  the  law  was  unified.  The  adminis- 
tration of  the  army  was  entrusted  to  the  Confed- 
eration. The  rights  of  the  individual,  in  particu- 
lar liberty  of  conscience  and  of  belief  and  liberty 
of  commerce  and  of  industry,  were  guaranteed  by 
the  Confederation  and  placed  under  the  protec- 


FEDERALISM  IN  SWITZERLAND  3 

tion  of  the  Federal  Council  and  the  Federal  Tri- 
bunal. The  principal  railways  were  nationalized. 
Popular  rights,  such  as  the  referendum  upon  legis- 
lation, already  in  operation  in  the  majority  of  the 
cantons,  were  introduced  in  their  turn  into  the 
Confederation  and  conferred  fresh  powers  upon 
the  Swiss  people. 

This  new  federal  State  evidently  differs  widely 
from  the  old  one.  There  is  federalism  and  fed- 
eralism. That  which  Switzerland  practices  to-day 
is  of  a  decidedly  diluted  character.  The  federal- 
ists of  the  early  nineteenth  century  would  have 
held  it  in  abhorrence.  But  in  the  process  of  time 
absolute  doctrines  must  perforce  undergo  modifi- 
cations which  would  have  seemed  beyond  the 
range  of  possibility  when  they  were  first  promul- 
gated. 

There  has  been  much  discussion  among  high 
legal  authorities  upon  the  question  whether,  after 
so  many  encroachments,  the  sovereignty  of  the 
cantons  still  exists.  A  sovereign  power  is  one 
which  prevails  over  all  others.  Can  there  be  two 
sovereign  powers,  or  is  there  now  in  Switzerland 
but  one  true  sovereignty,  that  of  the  Confedera- 
tion? Can  the  term  sovereignty  be  properly  ap- 
plied to  a  cantonal  autonomy  which  is  continually 
shrinking  like  the  wild  ass's  skin  of  Balzac's  fa- 
mous novel?  To  these  questions  it  is  replied  that 


4        REAL  DEMOCRACY  IN  OPERATION 

sovereignty  can  be  divided:  Confederation  and 
cantons  are  alike  sovereign  in  the  particular 
spheres  assigned  to  them  by  the  Constitution.  I 
leave  to  others  the  task  of  fathoming  a  problem  of 
purely  theoretical  interest,  and  confine  myself  to 
stating  that  the  Constitution  declares  the  cantons 
to  be  sovereign  wherever  they  have  not  delegated 
their  powers  to  the  Confederation.  But,  as  I 
have  just  shown,  this  sovereignty  is  gradually  di- 
minishing, and  at  the  present  moment  it  cuts  a 
poor  figure  beside  that  of  the  Confederation. 

The  advantages  of  the  federal  form  of  govern- 
ment are  well  known.  In  L'Esprit  des  Lois, 
Montesquieu  gives  a  celebrated  definition,  from 
which  I  quote  the  following  passages: 

"If  a  republic  is  small,  it  is  destroyed  by  a 
foreign  power;  if  it  is  great,  it  is  destroyed  by  in- 
ternal weakness.  .  .  . 

"It  appears  that  in  the  end  men  would  have 
been  obliged  to  live  always  under  the  rule  of  a 
single  person,  if  they  had  not  devised  a  form  of 
constitution  which  combines  all  the  internal  advan- 
tages of  a  republic  with  the  external  strength  of  a 
monarchy.  I  refer  to  the  federal  republic.  This 
form  of  government  is  an  agreement  by  which 
several  political  units  consent  to  become  citizens 
of  a  greater  State,  which  they  wish  to  bring  into 
being.  It  is  a  society  of  societies;  and  the  new 


FEDERALISM  IN  SWITZERLAND  5 

society  thus  created  can  enlarge  itself  by  including 
additional  members.  .  .  .  This  type  of  republic 
is  able  not  only  to  resist  external  oppression,  but 
also  to  preserve  its  greatness  without  internal  cor- 
ruption. The  form  of  this  society  anticipates  all 
objections.  .  .  .  Composed  .of  small  republics, 
the  federal  State  enjoys  the  goodwill  of  the  gov- 
ernments of  all  its  constituent  members ;  while  as 
for  foreign  powers  it  possesses,  by  reason  of  the 
strength  derived  from  unity,  all  the  advantages  of 
the  great  monarchies.  .  .  ." 

For  Montesquieu,  the  aim  of  the  federal  State 
is  above  all  to  maintain  the  existence  of  small 
States  by  means  of  a  league  enabling  them  to 
resist  foreign  ambition.  In  our  time  the  con- 
ception of  federalism  has  widened.  That  of 
Montesquieu  applies  rather  to  the  Confederation 
of  States  which  existed  in  Switzerland  before 
1848  than  to  the  federal  Constitution  (Bundes- 
staat)  which  exists  there  at  the  present  day.  I 
quote  from  another  French  writer,  P.  J.  Buchez, 
who  was  president  of  the  Constituent  Assembly  of 
1848,  a  passage  which  emphasizes  the  difference 
clearly:  "The  essential  characteristic  of  the  fed- 
eral State,  which  distinguishes  it  sharply  from  the 
simple  Confederation,  is  the  existence  of  a  regu- 
larly constituted,  permanent  government.  ...  It 
is  also  distinguished  by  the  extension  of  the  cen- 


6        REAL  DEMOCRACY  IN  OPERATION 

tral  government's  sphere  of  action.  This  consists 
no  longer  merely  in  combining  the  forces  of  all  in 
defense  of  individual  members,  in  guaranteeing 
autonomy  to  each  State,  and  finally  in  maintaining 
peace  in  the  last  resort  between,  confederate 
States;  it  consists  also  in  guaranteeing  the  per- 
sonal and  political  rights  of  citizens  in  every  State, 
and  in  imposing  duties  both  upon  the  States  them- 
selves and  upon  the  citizens." 

The  Swiss  federal  State  goes  beyond  the  defini- 
tion given  by  Buchez.  Besides  the  objects  speci- 
fied, the  second  article  of  the  Constitution  men- 
tions the  furtherance  of  common  prosperity,  and 
thus  adds  to  the  purpose  of  the  central  authority 
the  realization  of  political,  economic  and  social 
progress,  which  is  beyond  the  scope  of  the  cantons 
oil  account  of  their  small  size. 

No  one  has  spoken  upon  federalism  with 
greater  acumen  than  J.  Dubs,  of  Zurich,  a  mem- 
ber of  the  Federal  Council  before  1872  and  one 
of  the  few  German-Swiss  statesmen  of  our  time 
who  have  given  their  adhesion  to  the  principle. 
I  have  more  than  one  quotation  to  make  in  this 
chapter;  but  this  one,  I  believe,  is  particularly  rele- 
vant, coming,  as  it  does,  from  a  man  who  for  many 
years  played  a  brilliant  part  in  the  political  affairs 
both  of  his  canton  and  of  the  Confederation. 
"The  federal  State,"  wrote  Dubs  in  his  Manuel 


FEDERALISM  IN  SWITZERLAND  7 

de  Drolt  public,  "combines  two  things  which  used 
to  appear  incompatible,  the  unity  of  national 
power  and  the  maintenance  of  the  widest  indi- 
vidual liberty.  In  a  great  unitary  State,  the  first 
of  these  elements  often  develops  more  effectively, 
but  the  necessary  complement  of  such  a  political 
system  is  a  stricter  general  order  in  all  spheres, 
supported  by  an  army,  a  police  force,  and  bureau- 
cratic institutions  which  leave  little  freedom  to  the 
individual  and  can  only  grant  any  true  measure 
of  liberty  at  the  risk  of  its  degenerating  into  li- 
cense. In  the  small  cantonal  State,  on  the  other 
hand,  the  individual  life  of  localities,  districts  and 
persons  and  their  individual  liberty  have  the 
fullest  scope  for  free  development.  Within  its 
narrow  boundaries,  this  State  fosters  in  us  an 
appreciation  for  well-ordered  administration  and 
forms  enlightened  citizens,  honest  workmen,  and 
a  people  acting  disinterestedly  for  the  common 
good.  Survey  the  countries  of  the  world;  you  may 
find  elsewhere  greater  political  achievements,  but 
assuredly  in  no  country  will  you  meet  so  many 
good  citizens  of  independent  opinions  and  sound 
practical  judgment;  nowhere  so  great  a  number 
of  public  men  who  succeed  in  fulfilling  their  func- 
tions in  minor  spheres  with  dignity  and  skill;  no- 
where so  large  a  proportion  of  persons  who,  out- 
side their  daily  round  interest  themselves  so  keenly 


8         REAL  DEMOCRACY  IN  OPERATION 

in  the  welfare  and  in  the  difficulties  of  their  fel- 
low citizens,  who  take  so  cordial  a  share  in  all 
their  country's  rejoicings  and  display  so  active  a 
sympathy  in  all  public  misfortunes.  ...  It  is  to 
the  small  cantonal  State  that  we  owe  the  posses- 
sion of  this  rich  treasure;  in  it  we  have  a  school 
for  our  political  life.  ..." 

One  thing  is  certain;  no  form  of  constitution 
is  more  appropriate  for  our  country  than  the 
federal.  With  his  penetrating  glance,  Bonaparte 
had  no  difficulty  in  discerning  it  when  the  one  and 
indivisible  Republic  imposed  on  Switzerland  in 
1798  had  ended  in  lamentable  failure.  His  Act 
of  Mediation  restored  federalism.  In  the  audience 
which  he  gave  at  St.  Cloud  on  the  i2th  December, 
1803,  to  the  Swiss  delegates  who  had  come  to  col- 
laborate in  the  drafting  of  this  Act,  the  First 
Consul  explained  with  remarkable  force  the  mo- 
tives which  must  rally  them  in  favor  of  federal- 
ism. "The  more  I  reflect  on  the  nature  of  your 
country  and  on  the  diversity  of  your  constituent 
elements,"  he  told  them,  "the  more  I  am  con- 
vinced of  the  impossibility  of  subjecting  it  to  a 
uniform  system;  everything  leads  you  towards 
federalism.  Consider,  for  example,  the  difference 
between  your  mountaineers  and  your  townspeople. 
Would  you  wish  to  compel  the  democratic  cantons 
to  live  under  the  same  government  as  the  towns, 


FEDERALISM  IN  SWITZERLAND  9 

or  on  the  other  hand  would  you  dream  of  intro- 
ducing pure  democracy  into  the  latter,  into  Bern, 
for  instance?  The  unitary  system  requires  for  its 
maintenance  a  permanent  armed  force,  which 
would  have  to  be  paid,  and  your  finances  could  not 
support  the  burden  except  by  heavy  taxation. 
Your  people  does  not  like  taxation.  .  .  .  You  are 
not  in  a  position  to  establish  a  central  govern- 
ment. Lucky  circumstances  have  placed  me  at 
the  head  of  the  French  Government,  but  I  con- 
sider myself  incapable  of  governing  the  Swiss. 
Already  you  have  difficulty  in  finding  a  president 
(Landammann).  If  he  comes  from  Zurich,  the 
people  of  Bern  are  dissatisfied,  and  vice  versa; 
if  you  elect  a  Protestant,  the  Catholics  will  oppose. 
And  when  you  had  found  everything  to  meet  your 
desires,  if  I  happened  to  make  some  demand  upon 
the  central  government,  it  would  have  to  grant 
it  to  me.  If,  however,  I  have  to  address  myself 
to  an  isolated  canton,  each  one  declares  the  matter 
outside  its  competence;  the  Diet  has  to  be  sum- 
moned— this  takes  two  months — and  the  storm 
passes.  I  am  speaking  to  you  as  if  I  were  a 
Swiss  myself.  In  small  States,  the  federal  system 
confers  unquestionable  advantages.  I  myself 
come  from  a  mountainous  country.  I  know  the 
spirit  which  inspires  your  countrymen;  no  unity, 
no  troops,  no  finances,  no  diplomatic  representa- 


10      REAL  DEMOCRACY  IN  OPERATION 

tives  in  other  States.  Switzerland  has  to  confine 
itself  to  the  good  administration  of  its  domestic 
affairs;  its  pride  must  be  in  the  triple  equality  of 
canton  with  canton,  of  the  townspeople  one  with 
another,  and  of  the  towns  with  the  country,  and 
for  the  rest  it  must  rely  upon  the  friendship  of 
France." 

The  federal  theory  of  Napoleon  was  in  con- 
formity with  his  plan  of  keeping  a  weak  Switzer- 
land in  dependence  on  a  powerful  France.  At  the 
present  day,  contrary  to  the  prediction  of  the  First 
Consul,  Switzerland  possesses  a  central  govern- 
ment, an  army,  a  diplomatic  service  and  a  debt 
which  the  mobilization  of  troops  necessitated  by 
the  war  of  1914-18  has  increased  tenfold;  but 
there  is  much  truth  in  what  the  Mediator  said  in 
relation  to  the  Switzerland  of  his  time,  and  it 
remains  true  that  in  a  country  so  lacking  in  any 
kind  of  uniformity  as  Switzerland,  with  its  dif- 
ferences of  race,  language,  religion,  habits  and 
occupations,  some  type  of  federalism  is  a  neces- 
sity. So  diverse  a  population  requires  not  a  single 
political  system,  but  institutions  which  take  the 
widest  possible  account  of  these  multifarious  dif- 
ferences and  leave  a  broad  measure  of  liberty  to 
all. 

During  the  last  thirty  years,  a  tendency  towards 
centralization  manifested  itself  in  Switzerland  so 


FEDERALISM  IN  SWITZERLAND          n 

pronouncedly  that  the  country  might  easily  have 
found  itself  transformed  into  a  unitary  State. 
There  appears  now  to  be  a  slight  reaction,  and  it 
seems  to  be  better  appreciated  that  in  renouncing 
federalism  root  and  branch  the  loss  in  union  and 
internal  strength  would  exceed  any  conceivable 
gain  in  material  advancement.  A  short  time  ago 
an  eminent  professor  of  Zurich  University,  M. 
Fr.  Fleiner,  demonstrated  conclusively  that  fed- 
eralism is  an  essential  condition  for  the  existence 
of  Switzerland,  and  that  it  would  be  a  grave  mis- 
take to  despoil  the  cantons  of  all  power  and  sup- 
press their  entire  political  life.  "In  the  Swiss  fed- 
eral State,"  wrote  the  Zurich  professor,  "the  de- 
fense of  federalist  ideas  has  resulted,  from  the 
point  of  view  of  politics,  in  protecting  the  Catholic 
minority  against  the  Liberal  and  Protestant  ma- 
jority, and  also  in  protecting  the  French  and 
Italian  minority  against  the  German-speaking  ma- 
jority." Although  the  Confederation  has  pro- 
vided effective  guarantees  for  the  personal  rights 
of  Swiss  citizens,  the  cantons  form  the  basis  pf 
the  country  and  its  democracy,  and  from  them  the 
Confederation  has  borrowed  institutions  which 
give  a  large  measure  of  direct  control  to  the 
people.  M.  Fleiner  recalls  Jacob  Burkhardt's 
happy  remark:  "The  small  State  exists  to  provide 
one  spot  upon  the  earth  where  members  of  as 


many  nations  as  possible  may  be  citizens  in  the 
complete  sense  of  the  word."  The  preservation 
of  this  civic  culture  is,  indeed,  one  of  the  chief 
services  which  the  cantons  perform  for  themselves 
and  for  the  Confederation  of  which  they  form 
part.  Furthermore,  the  federal  Constitution  en- 
shrines the  principle  that  German,  French  and 
Italian  are  the  national  languages  of  the  Con- 
federation. Now,  the  fact  that,  in  Western 
Switzerland  and  in  the  Ticino  district  the  French 
and  Italian  elements  are  definitely  and  perma- 
nently incorporated  in  cantons,  enables  them  to 
erect  a  barrier  of  public  law  against  German, 
which  is  a  far  better  safeguard  for  these  two 
languages  and  civilizations  than  any  they  could 
hope  to  enjoy  in  a  unitary  State.  Switzerland,  it 
must  be  remembered,  is  compensated  for  the 
smallness  of  her  territory  by  the  diversity  of  her 
spiritual  characteristics  and  the  richness  of  her 
three  cultures,  each  of  which,  through  the  can- 
tons, is  guaranteed  representation  in  the  federal 
political  institutions. 

M.  Fleiner  concludes  that,  although  the  two 
terms  centralization  and  federalism  are  almost 
invariably  used  in  antithesis  in  modern  discus- 
sions, they  are  discovered  upon  closer  examination 
to  be  complementary  to  each  other;  and  that  the 
prosperity  and  progress  of  the  Confederation  de- 


FEDERALISM  IN  SWITZERLAND          13 

pend  upon  their  working  together  in  harmony. 
Tfiis  conclusion  appears  sound.  National  con- 
sciousness is  a  necessity;  but  cantonal  conscious- 
ness, too,  has  a  useful  part  to  play,  so  long  as  it 
does  not  degenerate  into  selfishness  and  paro- 
chialism. 

The  Vaudois  writer,  Eugene  Rambert,  gave  a 
very  happy  definition  of  this  aim  of  Swiss  feder- 
alism: "A  German  majority  tolerating  a  French 
minority,  a  Protestant  majority  tolerating  a  Cath- 
olic minority,  a  certain  number  of  relatively  strong 
and  populous  States  sailing  with  the  vanguard 
down  the  stream  of  modern  life,  tolerating  the 
slowness  of  the  old  pastoral  democracies  where 
centuries  are  but  as  years — that  is  the  mission  im- 
posed by  Nature  upon  Switzerland."  Very  appo- 
site, too,  is  the  formula  of  M.  P.  Seippel,  who  says 
that  the  national  ideal  of  Switzerland  is  to  light 
the  path  for  the  nations  of  the  world  by  proving 
that  it  is  possible  to  weld  into  a  free  and  fruitful 
unity  diverse  races,  diverse  languages  and  diverse 
"cultures."  . 

The  division  of  sovereign  powers  between  the 
Confederation  and  the  cantons  constitutes  the 
principal  difficulty  of  the  federal  system  as  it 
exists  in  Switzerland  to-day.  The  Swiss  system 
is  unique  in  that  the  sphere  of  the  central  author- 
ity and  that  of  the  cantons  are  not  separated  into 


14       REAL  DEMOCRACY  IN  OPERATION 

water-tight  compartments,  as,  for  example,  in  the 
United  States.  There  are  certain  sections  of  the 
administration  which  have  been  entirely  central- 
ized and  in  which  the  Confederation  enjoys  the 
sole  control  of  a  staff  of  officials  and  workmen; 
the  customs  and  postal  service  are  examples.  In 
others — such  as  civil  law — the  Confederation 
legislates,  but  the  cantons  organize  the  courts  and 
appoint  the  judges,  who,  at  least  in  the  first  in- 
stance, administer  the  law.  For  the  execution  of 
very  many  federal  laws,  the  military  laws  among 
others,  the  Confederation  has  no  agents  of  its  own 
and  makes  use  of  the  officials  of  the  cantons,  which 
are  to  this  extent  placed  in  a  subordinate  position 
in  relation  to  the  federal  authority.  Elsewhere, 
notably  in  elementary  and  secondary  education, 
direct  taxation,  relief  of  the  poor,  local  organiza- 
tion and  the  bulk  of  public  works,  the  sovereignty 
of  the  cantons  has  remained  almost  intact.  Op- 
portunities for  friction  are  not  lacking,  but  in 
normal  times  any  difficulties  which  may  arise  are 
overcome  with  little  effort. 

Of  late,  the  competence  of  the  Confederation 
has  increased  to  such  an  extent  that  the  federal- 
ists, fearful  of  soon  witnessing  th£  complete  tri- 
umph of  the  unitary  system,  have  on  several  oc- 
casions sounded  an  alarm.  The  extension  of  fed- 
eral powers  was  not  brought  about  by  theoretical 


FEDERALISM  IN  SWITZERLAND          15 

considerations.  It  sprang  from  the  necessities  of 
the  situation  and  nearly  always  corresponded  with 
undisputable  public  interests.  Every  time  the 
question  of  centralizing  anything  or  making  any- 
thing uniform  is  raised  in  Switzerland,  good  argu- 
ments are  discovered  in  abundance.  The  centra- 
lization of  military  training  explained  itself.  That 
of  law,  especially  of  law  relating  to  commerce, 
was  imposed  in  the  name  of  very  urgent  needs. 
Twenty-five  systems  of  civil  law  in  a  country  of 
less  than  four  million  inhabitants  created  numer- 
ous complications  and  hindered  intercourse  be- 
tween citizens  of  different  cantons.  The  recent  war 
demonstrated  the  great  value  of  the  National 
Bank  and  of  a  uniform  issue  of  banknotes.  The 
nationalization  of  the  railways  was  demanded  for 
weighty  reasons  ranging  from  military  defense  to 
the  development  of  the  system  and  the  services  it 
was  called  upon  to  render.  In  the  domain  of  hy- 
draulic power,  where  streams  and  rivers  simply 
ignore  the  boundaries  of  cantons,  federal  legisla- 
tion was  a  necessity.  Food  control  could  not  stop 
at  cantonal  boundaries  without  running  the  risk 
of  evasion  at  every  turn.  For  the  purpose  of 
patent  laws,  the  protection  of  forests  and  public 
insurance,  the  sphere  of  action  of  the  canton  was 
seen  to  be  inadequate.  And  so  forth.  But  where 
will  it  end?  According  to  the  extreme  partisans 


16       REAL  DEMOCRACY  IN  OPERATION 

of  centralization,  there  is  no  end.  The  last  rem- 
nants of  military  administration  in  the  cantons, 
judicial  organization  and  procedure  would  all  be 
centralized;  the  Confederation  would  interfere  in 
elementary  education,  in  the  relief  of  the  poor, 
and  in  the  affairs  of  local  authorities  within  the 
canton;  it  would  levy  a  direct  tax;  it  would  create 
a  federal  police,  etc.  The  slope  is  extremely  slip- 
pery; one  step  is  all  that  is  required. 

Buchez,  whom  I  quoted  just  now,  foresaw  this 
evolution.  "It  appears,"  wrote  he,  "that  the  es- 
tablishment of  a  permanent  and  regularly  consti- 
tuted central  authority,  which  in  a  word  forms  the 
government,  must  surely  involve  the  transforma- 
tion of  a  Confederation  of  States  into  a  federal 
State  and  of  a  federation  into  a  unitary  State ;  that 
is  to  say,  it  must  involve  the  conversion  of  States 
which  at  first  are  completely  independent  into 
united  States,  and  then  of  the  latter  into  mere 
provinces,  or  in  other  words  into  local  adminis- 
trative authorities  enjoying  simply  the  kind  of 
autonomy  requisite  for  the  free  and  efficient  dis- 
charge of  public  business.  A  government  is  neces- 
sarily an  institution  of  progress.  However  mod- 
erate it  may  desire  to  be,  whatever  suspicions 
it  may  entertain  about  its  own  tendencies,  which 
are  to  increase  its  power  incessantly,  nevertheless 
it  will  go  forward.  It  will  act,  and  when  its 


FEDERALISM  IN  SWITZERLAND          17 

activity  is  not  absorbed  by  foreign  affairs,  it  will 
have  to  exercise  firmness  in  domestic  matters. 
...  It  will  be  the  representative  of  some  idea  or 
of  some  doctrine  whose  triumph  it  will  strive  to 
achieve.  Thus  it  will  inaugurate  the  work  of  uni- 
fication, and  in  the  end  by  gradual  stages  it  will 
fashion  a  single  State  out  of  a  number  of  States 
or  a  single  people  out  of  a  number  of  peoples,  as 
the  case  may  be.  .  .  ." 

But  then  what  becomes  of  the  benefits  of 
federalism  and  of  the  political  life  of  the  can- 
tons? There  is  something  contradictory  here: 
every  State  is  urged  forward,  pursuing  its  aims 
and  extending  its  activities,  while  at  the  same  time, 
for  the  maintenance  of  some  degree  of  federal- 
ism, the  Confederation  must  call  a  halt  at  a  given 
moment  and  voluntarily  renounce  all  further  en- 
largement of  its  powers. 

Louis  Ruchonnet,  one  of  the  most  remarkable 
statesmen  produced  by  the  French  part  of  Swit- 
zerland, used  to  say  that  whatever  the  Confedera- 
tion could  undertake  better  than  the  cantons 
should  be  ceded  to  the  Confederation,  and  what- 
ever the  cantons  could  undertake  better  than  the 
Confederation  should  be  left  to  them.  The  prin- 
ciple is  sound  but  rather  elastic.  There  are  cases 
in  which  differences  of  opinion  will  arise  upon  the 
expediency  of  its  application,  and  also  upon  the 


i8      REAL  DEMOCRACY  IN  OPERATION 

results  of  the  activity  of  the  respective  authori- 
ties. The  Protestant  cantons  would  raise  no  ob- 
jection to  the  interference  of  the  Confederation 
in  elementary  education.  The  Catholic  cantons 
and  the  French-speaking  cantons,  however,  would 
oppose  it  energetically.  In  addition,  most  meas- 
ures of  a  centralizing  character  unfortunately 
result  in  increasing  the  number  of  officials, 
strengthening  the  bureaucracy  and  adding  to  the 
class  of  citizens  who,  owing  to  their  almost  exclu- 
sive dependence  on  the  central  authority,  are  in- 
capacitated from  appreciating  any  needs  other 
than  their  own.  This  consequence  was  illustrated 
quite  recently  in  the  alacrity  with  which  federal 
officials  have  accepted  the  idea  of  the  permanent 
imposition  of  a  direct  federal  tax,  the  introduc- 
tion of  which  would  be  one  of  the  most  serious 
infringements  of  the  privileges  still  enjoyed  by  the 
cantons. 

Happily  for  federalism,  the  centralizing  ten- 
dency is  confronted  with  obstacles,  the  impor- 
tance of  which  is  not  to  be  despised.  Among  these 
is  the  referendum  which  on  more  than  one  occa- 
sion has  scotched  premature  attempts  in  the  direc- 
tion of  centralization.  I  shall  deal  fully  with 
this  in  a  later  chapter.  Every  amendment  of  the 
Constitution  requires  a  majority  of  votes  both  in 
the  whole  country  and  in  a  majority  of  cantons. 


FEDERALISM  IN  SWITZERLAND  19 

This  provides  an  effective  safeguard  against  ex- 
cessive centralization.  Although  the  Catholics 
are  mainly  concerned  for  the  protection  of  their 
schools  and  the  confessional,  they  have  combined 
more  than  once  with  the  French-speaking  minority 
to  administer  a  check  to  inopportune  centraliza- 
tion. These  two  minorities,  for  example,  suc- 
ceeded in  1872  in  defeating  a  constitution  which 
was  of  too  centralizing  a  character  for  the  time. 
Another  check — and  the  one  which  ought  to  be 
the  strongest — is  the  realization  of  the  advan- 
tages derived  from  the  political  life  of  the  cantons 
and  of  the  risks  incurred  by  an  over-rapid  cen- 
tralization which  might  shatter  the  internal  har- 
mony of  the  country. 

A  Zurich  historian,  M.  Nabholz,  lectured  re- 
cently on  the  struggle  in  favor  of  centralization  in 
Swiss  institutions  from  1291  to  1848.  After 
showing  the  triumph  of  extreme  federalism  in  the 
origin  of  the  Constitution  and  the  resultant  obsta- 
cles to  its  logical  development  for  centuries  on 
end,  he  comes  to  the  conclusion  that  the  majority 
of  the  Swiss  people,  in  exercising  within  the  fed- 
eral State  the  power  of  imposing  laws  upon  a 
minority,  must  be  conscious  of  the  danger  involved 
in  an  ever  greater  extension  of  the  competence  of 
the  federal  authority  at  the  expense  of  the  can- 
tons. Its  duty,  he  urges,  is  by  its  own  exertions 


20      REAL  DEMOCRACY  IN  OPERATION 

and  good  judgment  to  prevent  modern  Switzer- 
land from  following  in  the  footsteps  of  the  fed- 
eral Switzerland  of  former  times;  let  her  beware 
of  narrow  doctrinairism  and  of  applying  the  domi- 
nant principle  in  extreme  cases.  Along  that  path 
lies  the  risk  of  stifling  the  characteristic  activities 
of  the  people  and  ultimately  the  very  disaster  to 
which  she  was  brought  by  a  narrow  and  exagger- 
ated federalism. 

Nothing  could  be  more  to  the  point. 

If  I  were  asked  to  suggest  a  suitable  policy,  I 
should  say  that  for  a  new  centralization  or  unifi- 
cation to  be  justifiable  it  must  be  unquestionably 
indispensable  and  it  must  serve  some  obvious  na- 
tional interest.  The  federal  idea  should  pre- 
dominate in  doubtful  cases.  Moreover,  one  must 
be  careful  not  to  outrun  public  opinion,  or,  as  E. 
Rambert  said,  not  to  exceed  the  degree  of  cen- 
tralization or  unification  compatible  with  the 
spirit  of  the  age.  "Some  measures  of  centraliza- 
tion which  have  made  their  appearance  prema- 
turely have  been  carried  twenty,  thirty  or  forty 
years  after  their  first  rejection.  If  progress  is  to 
be  generally  acceptable,  it  must  be  slow  and  free, 
and  the  people  must  have  time  to  adapt  them- 
selves to  the  new  order.  The  less  the  Confedera- 
tion develops  into  a  bureaucracy,  the  more  chance 
it  will  have  of  escaping  unpopularity  and  resist- 


FEDERALISM  IN  SWITZERLAND          21 

ance.  Whenever  it  can  make  use  of  the  cantonal 
organization,  it  should  do  so,  even  at  the  cost  of 
some  inconvenience.  Finally,  it  must  shun  like  the 
Devil  anything  which  might  be  construed  as  an  at- 
tack upon  that  precious  equality  of  the  national 
languages  which  is  one  of  the  very  foundations  of 
our  union."  M.  Virgile  Rossel  summed  up  ex- 
actly the  guiding  principle  of  a  sound  federal 
policy  when  he  wrote  in  a  recent  article  in  La  Bib- 
liotheque  Universelle:  "Every  act  of  centraliza- 
tion which  is  not  ruled  by  the  supreme  aims  of  the 
State  saps  the  strength  of  true  equality  among  the 
races,  and  excites  distrust  and  bitterness  fatal  to 
federal  goodwill.  Switzerland  loses  in  union  what 
she  gains  in  unity." 

Evidently  the  federal  or  federative  State  is  a 
somewhat  complicated  institution  in  which  the 
statesman  can  succeed  only  by  means  of  compro- 
mise. Nevertheless  I  consider  it  the  political  sys- 
tem of  the  future.  Many  great  countries  seem  to 
be  tending  towards  a  federative  organization.  It 
is  so  with  the  British  Empire;  it  may  be  so  with 
Russia,  Austria-Hungary,  and  the  Balkan  States. 
At  the  moment,  the  Swiss  Confederation — the 
oldest  of  all — and  the  United  States  of  America 
represent  the  completest  types  of  this  political  or- 
ganization. They  are,  and  have  long  been,  free 
and  democratic  Confederations.  While  Switzer- 


22       REAL  DEMOCRACY  IN  OPERATION 

land  is  a  federative  State,  she  is  also  pre-eminently 
a  democratic  State.  I  shall  examine  later  the  dem- 
ocratic features  which  are  so  strongly  marked  in 
its  institutions.  And  here  I  will  end  a  chapter 
which  Sterne  would  have  called  the  chapter  of 
quotations. 


CHAPTER  II 

THE  EVOLUTION  OF  DEMOCRACY  IN  SWITZERLAND 

IF  there  is  one  principle  upon  which  all  the 
people  of  Switzerland  are  agreed,  it  is  the  prin- 
ciple of  popular  sovereignty.  Mountaineers  of 
Uri,  embroiderers  of  St.  Gall,  wealthy  manufac- 
turers of  Zurich,  agriculturists  of  Bern  and  Vaud, 
watchmakers  of  Neuchatel,  financiers  of  Basel  and 
Geneva,  Liberals,  Radicals  and  Socialists,  Catho- 
lics and  Protestants  alike — all  of  them,  divided  as 
their  opinions  are  upon  so  many  questions,  admit 
to-day  that  sovereignty  rests  with  the  people,  and 
that  a  democratic  system  is  the  most  suitable  of 
all  for  Switzerland.  It  was  not  always  thus 
throughout  Switzerland;  but  democracy  flourished 
at  the  dawn  of  Swiss  history,  and,  after  a  partial 
eclipse  which  in  some  cantons  lasted  for  centuries, 
it  flourishes  again  at  the  present  stage  of  the  coun- 
try's historical  and  political  evolution.  It  would 
seem  as  if  republicanism  and  democracy  were  in 
the  air  we  breathe,  and  that  our  lofty  mountains 
have  inspired  in  our  people  that  spirit  of  inde- 
pendence in  which  they  have  so  rarely  been  found 

23 


24      REAL  DEMOCRACY  IN  OPERATION 

wanting.  This  characteristic  was  prominent  as 
early  as  the  time  of  the  Helvetii,  on  the  occasion 
when  their  chief,  Orgetorix,  took  his  own  life 
rather  than  suffer  execution  because  the  people 
suspected  him  of  aspiring  to  the  position  of  king. 
Later,  at  the  end  of  the  thirteenth  century,  when 
the  mountaineers  and  peasants  of  Uri,  Schwyz, 
and  Unterwalden  banded  together  in  a  defensive 
alliance  against  the  ambitions  and  oppressions  of 
the  house  of  Hapsburg,  the  institution  known  as 
the  Landsgemeinde  was  already  in  existence  in 
their  land.  In  the  Landsgemeinde  the  freemen 
of  the  community  made  their  own  laws.  In  the 
thirteenth  and  fourteenth  centuries,  the  Lands- 
gemeinde, with  more  or  less  extensive  powers,  is 
found  not  only  in  Uri,  Schwyz,  and  Unterwalden, 
but  also  in  Zug,  Glarus,  Appenzell,  Urseren,  Ein- 
siedeln,  Engelberg,  Hasli,  and  Obersimmenthal, 
in  Toggenburg,  Bellinzone,  in  the  Blenio  valley, 
as  well  as  in  the  lands  of  the  Archbishopric  of 
Basel,  situated  among  the  Jura  Alps.  The  Lands- 
gemeinde of  Toggenburg  numbered  up  to  10,000 
participants. 

Historians  connect  the  Landsgemeinde  with  the 
analogous  institution  of  the  Germanic  folkmoot; 
but  whereas  the  latter  gradually  declined  and  lost 
its  prerogatives,  the  Swiss  communities  succeeded 
in  consolidating  and  extending  theirs.  The  Swiss 


DEMOCRACY  IN  SWITZERLAND          25 

Landsgemeinden  became  autonomous  courts  of 
justice  and  assemblies  in  which  laws  were  passed 
and  all  the  important  business  of  the  State  trans- 
acted. They  were  even  thrown  open  to  those 
hitherto  excluded  on  account  of  their  inferior  legal 
status.  It  is  extremely  interesting  to  trace  the 
development  of  this  democratic  institution  from 
that  time  to  the  present,  when  it  still  exists,  at 
least  in  the  primitive  cantons,  with  many  of  the 
powers  which  it  formerly  exercised.  Of  the  course 
of  this  democratic  evolution  in  the  various  can- 
tons, great  and  small,  I  can  here  give  only  a  short 
summary.  Those  readers  who  require  fuller  de- 
tails will  find  them  in  the  book  by  M.  Th.  Curti  on 
popular  legislation  in  Switzerland.1  Moreover, 
in  my  rapid  survey  of  the  outstanding  features  of 
the  subject,  I  shall  follow  M.  Curti's  treatment. 
The  city-republic  of  Bern  had  no  Landsge- 
meinde,  but  during  the  fifteenth  and  sixteenth  cen- 
turies we  see  it  recognizing  to  some  extent  the 
principle  of  popular  sovereignty  by  adopting  a 
method  of  consulting  the  people  similar  to  that 
which  to-day  we  call  the  referendum.  At  the  time 
of  the  religious  strife  of  the  sixteenth  century, 
highly  important  questions  concerning  the  enlist- 
ment of  mercenary  troops,  alliances  with  foreign 
States,  the  celibacy  of  priests  and  the  different  ar- 

1  Translated  into  French  by  M.  J.  Ronjat. 


26       REAL  DEMOCRACY  IN  OPERATION 

tides  of  faith,  were  decided  by  the  majority  of  the 
people.  The  voting  took  place  in  the  open  air  on 
the  public  spaces  of  each  ward,  often  under  the 
direction  of  the  members  of  the  Council.  Usually 
from  the  age  of  fourteen,  every  man  took  part, 
and  the  function  of  the  Councilors  was  to  see 
that  no  qualified  person  failed  to  vote.  The  re- 
sults for  the  whole  State  of  Bern  were  calculated 
by  counting  the  votes  by  wards;  each  ward, 
whether  its  inhabitants  numbered  100  or  1,000 
counted  the  same.  It  was  by  this  very  system, 
known  as  the  "Plus,"  that  the  manors  in  Vaud 
belonging  jointly  to  Bern  and  Freiburg,  had  to 
make  their  choice  between  Catholicism  and  Prot- 
estantism. The  "plus"  resulted  in  the  adoption 
of  Protestantism  by  the  district  of  Orbe  and  the 
retention  of  Catholicism  in  Echallens.  But  when 
the  patricians  of  Bern  felt  strong  enough,  they 
ceased  to  have  recourse  to  the  referendum  and 
themselves  assumed  the  sovereign  power  without 
restriction.  From  1653  until  the  nineteenth  cen- 
tury the  people  of  Bern  were  consulted  no  more. 

In  Valais,  too,  there  existed  a  kind  of  referen- 
dum, the  federal  character  of  which  is  easily  ex- 
plained by  the  internal  diversity  of  the  country. 
Twice  a  year,  in  December  and  May,  representa- 
tives of  the  seven  dizains  or  districts  met  in  Coun- 
cil together  in  the  episcopal  castle  of  Majorie  at 


DEMOCRACY  IN  SWITZERLAND          27 

Sion.  There  they  made  decisions  ad  referendum, 
that  is  to  say,  subject  to  ratification  by  their  com- 
patriots. The  voting  power  of  the  dizains  was 
equal.  Institutions  providing  for  the  consultation 
of  the  people  existed  also  in  Grisons  and  Zurich. 
Unfortunately,  at  Zurich  as  at  Bern  and  else- 
where, oligarchic  intrigues  got  the  better  of  these 
popular  rights  and  substituted  for  them  the  almost 
unlimited  domination  of  the  urban  artistocracy. 

At  Geneva  the  power  of  legislation  belonged 
to  the  whole  body  of  citizens  on  the  general  Coun- 
cil. No  discussion  was  permitted,  and  the  votes 
were  taken  individually  and  orally  by  the  officials 
deputed  to  record  them.  The  aristocracy  of 
Geneva  labored  unceasingly  to  restrict  this  privi- 
lege, which  intrepid  citizens  defended  with  a  pas- 
sion which  in  1707  cost  a  lawyer,  named  Fatio, 
and  a  number  of  others  their  lives.  One  of  the 
upholders  of  the  rights  of  the  people,  Jacques 
Barthelemy  Micheli,  was  degraded  from  the  no- 
bility and  deprived  of  all  his  property.  He  was 
condemned  to  death,  but  his  life  was  spared  and 
he  remained  for  eighteen  years  a  prisoner  in  the 
hands  of  the  oligarchy  of  Bern.  Micheli  was  one 
of  the  harbingers  of  modern  Swiss  democracy. 
He  urged  the  adoption  of  the  popular  initiative 
and  desired  that  the  people  should  enjoy  facilities 
for  expressing  approval  or  disapproval  of  the  de- 


28       REAL  DEMOCRACY  IN  OPERATION 

cisions  of  the  Council.  These  efforts  were  not  in 
vain.  In  1738,  through  the  mediation  of  France, 
Zurich  and  Bern,  the  people  of  Geneva  received 
a  constitution  which  restored  to  the  general  coun- 
cil the  power  of  legislation,  that  is,  the  power  to 
accept  or  reject  proposals  for  new  laws  or  amend- 
ments to  existing  laws.  To  these  champions  and 
martyrs  of  the  cause  of  popular  sovereignty  must 
be  added  the  name  of  Henzi,  a  citizen  of  Bern, 
executed  in  1749  for  attempting  the  overthrow 
of  the  Bernese  aristocracy.  He  left  a  memoir  in 
which  he  demanded  that  the  governing  body 
should  be  elected  by  the  people ;  that  laws  should 
merely  be  drafted  by  that  body  and  always  sub- 
mitted to  the  general  assembly  of  the  people  for 
approval  or  rejection.  It  is  not  good  to  be  in 
advance  of  one's  age,  even  in  regard  to  constitu- 
tional rights  which  were  accepted  almost  without 
question  in  earlier  ages. 

It  would  be  inexcusable  to  proceed  with  the 
story  of  Swiss  democracy  without  some  reference 
to  the  famous  eighteenth-century  writer  whose 
works,  after  exerting  an  enormous  influence  on  the 
French  Revolution,  have  become,  as  it  were,  the 
gospel  of  modern  democracy.  In  his  Central 
Social,  published  in  1762,  Jean  Jacques  Rousseau 
proclaimed  and  defended  brilliantly  the  principle 
of  popular  sovereignty,  the  theory  and  practice  of 


DEMOCRACY  IN  SWITZERLAND          29 

which  he  illustrated  from  the  history  of  the 
ancient  world  and  of  Geneva.  With  strictly  logi- 
cal reasoning,  he  declared  himself  against  every 
kind  of  popular  representation  in  the  making  of 
laws.  For  Rousseau  legislation  must  be  the  ex- 
pression of  the  general  will.  The  latter  includes 
all  particular  wills  without  exception.  The  right 
is  the  same  for  everybody.  This  general  will  can- 
not be  alienated,  and  representation  is  a  form  of 
alienation.  A  representative  is  a  person  or  collec- 
tion of  persons  which  the  nation  substitutes  for 
itself  to  act  for  it  and  to  which  it  assigns  all  its 
powers.  But,  under  this  system,  the  nation  is  free 
only  upon  the  day  of  the  election,  after  which 
it  is  at  the  mercy  of  its  representative.  This 
amounts  to  at  least  a  temporary  alienation  of  na- 
tional liberty.  The  nation,  he  contended,  may 
quite  properly  have  commissaries,  mandatories  or 
officials  provided  that  their  mandate  is  specific 
and  revocable  and  their  responsibility  effectively 
determined;  it  may  not  have  representatives  who 
substitute  their  will  for  its  own.  As  for  the  prac- 
tical difficulty  of  gathering  together  the  entire 
people  in  large  countries  to  pass  laws,  Rousseau 
did  not  solve  it.  Instead  of  going  on  to  consider 
the  referendum  and  initiative,  he  concluded  that 
the  sovereign  people  cannot  continue  to  exercise 
its  powers  unless  the  State  is  very  small. 


30       REAL  DEMOCRACY  IN  OPERATION 

It  was  left  to  the  French  Revolution  to  attempt 
the  first  practical  application  of  Rousseau's  theo- 
ries of  popular  sovereignty,  and  then  to  contem- 
porary Switzerland  to  work  them  out  thoroughly 
and  methodically.  An  early  experiment  with  the 
principle  was  made  in  France  when  the  Consti- 
tution of  1793  was  submitted  to  the  people  and 
accepted  in  the  towns  and  departments  which 
were  not  occupied  by  the  enemy  by  1,601,918 
votes  to  11,610.  This  was  the  first  occasion  on 
which  voting  took  place  over  a  wide  area.  The 
Constitution  gave  to  the  people  the  right  to  pro- 
test against  laws  proposed  by  the  representative 
body;  with  this  "veto"  I  shall  deal  later  in  con- 
nection with  St.  Gall.  This  Constitution,  how- 
ever, remained  a  dead  letter.  The  doctrine  of  the 
famous  revolutionary  theorist,  Gracchus  Babceuf 
and  his  following,  received  no  better  consideration 
from  the  makers  of  constitutions.  This  school  in- 
sisted that  legislators  should  confine  themselves  to 
drafting  the  laws,  which  were  to  be  submitted  to 
the  people  in  what  they  called  assemblies  of  sov- 
ereignty. They  also  desired  to  confer  upon  the  peo- 
ple the  right  of  proposing  new  laws  and  repealing 
old  ones,  i.e.,  the  popular  initiative  so  frequently 
made  use  of  in  Switzerland  for  over  fifty  years. 

The  ephemeral  unitary  Constitution  of  the 
20th  May,  1802,  although  it  scarcely  came  into 


DEMOCRACY  IN  SWITZERLAND          31 

operation,  forms  an  epoch  in  the  history  of  the 
rights  of  the  people  in  Switzerland.  It  was  the 
first  to  be  submitted  to  a  popular  vote.  Thus 
it  marks  the  introduction  of  the  referendum  on 
constitutional  questions.  This  Constitution  was 
drafted  by  a  number  of  influential  leaders  and 
submitted  to  a  vote  of  all  citizens  over  twenty 
years  of  age.  The  vote  took  place  locally;  voters 
were  given  four  days  in  which  to  record  their  ac- 
ceptance or  rejection  in  the  official  registers.  The 
votes  of  those  who  abstained  were  counted  as  in 
favor  of  acceptance.  It  was  to  this  provision  that 
the  Constitution  owed  its  adoption.  72,453  citi- 
zens replied  in  its  favor,  and  92,423  against  it; 
167,172  abstained  from  voting. 

The  early  part  of  the  nineteenth  century  was 
not  favorable  to  popular  rights.  In  a  number  of 
cantons  the  conservative  and  aristocratic  parties 
had  regained  the  upper  hand,  and  many  Liberals, 
disgusted  by  the  excesses  of  the  French  Revolu- 
tion, were  inclined  to  see  in  the  representative  sys- 
tem the  ne  plus  ultra  of  democracy  and  the  means 
of  assuring  the  ascendency  of  the  most  enlightened 
in  the  sphere  of  legislation.  The  revolution  of 
1830  was  required  to  give  fresh  motive  power  to 
the  democratic  idea.  Under  inspiration  from 
France,  many  cantons  revised  their  constitutions, 
adopted  universal  suffrage  in  place  of  a  narrow 


32      REAL  DEMOCRACY  IN  OPERATION 

electoral  qualification,  proclaimed  equal  rights  for 
town  and  country,  freedom  of  the  press,  freedom 
of  industry,  etc.  The  initiative  in  legislation  was 
no  longer  monopolized  by  governments,  but 
shared  by  them  with  the  Grand  Councils. 

In  1831  the  system  of  popular  legislation  scored 
a  decisive  success  with  the  institution  of  the  veto 
in  the  canton  of  St.  Gall.  This  veto,  an  imperfect 
and  complicated  form  of  the  referendum,  was 
applicable  to  all  proposals  affecting  civil  or  crim- 
inal law,  to  treaties,  and  to  general  measures  of 
finance  and  administration.  Laws  came  into  op- 
eration 45  days  after  their  promulgation  unless 
the  people  refused  to  accept  them.  This  refusal 
was  brought  about  «in  the  following  way.  Fifty 
citizens  of  a  commune  could  requisition  the  hold- 
ing of  a  meeting  of  the  commune.  If  at  this  meet- 
ing the  proposal  obtained  a  majority,  all  the  citi- 
zens of  the  commune,  including  those  who  had 
voted  against  it,  were  counted  as  in  favor  of  accep- 
tance. If  on  the  contrary  there  .were  a  majority 
against  the  proposal,  only  those  who  had  voted 
against  it  were  counted  as  opposing  it.  Those 
who  did  not  attend  the  meeting,  were  counted  as 
in  favor.  When,  in  the  whole  of  the  canton,  the 
number  of  votes  against  the  proposal  reached  a 
majority  of  the  electorate,  the  proposal  was  re- 
jected. 


DEMOCRACY  IN  SWITZERLAND          33 

This  veto  was  instituted,  with  some  variations, 
in.  1832  in  Basel-Stadt  and  in  1841  at  Lucerne. 
Valais  also  introduced  it  into  its  Constitution  in 
1839,  and  later  in  1844  in  a  form  approximating 
more  closely  to  the  referendum:  the  citizens 
decided,  in  their  primary  assemblies,  upon  laws, 
military  capitulations,  financial  resolutions  and 
conditions  of  the  grant  of  citizenship. 

In  1845  the  canton  of  Vaud  took  a  decisive 
step  in  the  direction  of  immediate  democracy  after 
a  revolution  which  substituted  a  Radical  for  a 
Liberal  government.  After  long  discussions  in 
which  opinion  turned  in  favor  from  the  veto  to 
the  optional  referendum  and  then  again  to  the 
initiative,  the  Constituent  Assembly  adopted  the 
proposal  of  Louis  Henri  Delarageaz  which 
established  for  the  first  time  in  Swiss  cantons 
having  a  representative  system  of  government — 
the  constitutional  and  legislative  initiative  in 
the  widest  conceivable  form.  The  general  as- 
semblies of  the  communes  were  empowered  to 
vote  upon  "any  proposal"  which  was  submitted 
to  them  by  the  Great  Council  acting  spontaneously 
or  on  the  demand  of  8,000  citizens.  Any  changes 
in  the  Constitution  were  compulsorily  submitted 
to  a  popular  vote.  Thus  8,000  citizens  were  able 
to  place  before  the  whole  electorate  not  only  all 
laws  and  decisions  emanating  from  the  Great 


34      REAL  DEMOCRACY  IN  OPERATION 

Council,  but  also  constitutional,  legislative  or  ad- 
ministrative provisions  of  every  kind  which  they 
cared  to  formulate  themselves;  the  popular  vote 
was  of  right.  With  one  bound  the  canton  of  Vaud 
leaped  to  the  extreme  limit  of  the  right  of  popular 
initiative.  Its  great  neighbor,  the  canton  of 
Bern,  adopted  the  optional  referendum  in  1846 
and  so  restored  to  its  Constitution  the  right 
which  the  Bernese  aristocracy  of  the  sixteenth 
century  had  succeeded  in  confiscating. 

Progress  realized  in  cantonal  institutions  often 
passes  after  some  years  into  federal  institutions. 
The  federal  Constitution  of  1848  provided  that 
amendments  should  be  subject  to  a  compulsory 
referendum.  Henceforward  the  Constitution 
could  be  altered  at  any  time  if  required  by  the 
Chambers  or  by  50,000  citizens  to  be  submitted 
to  a  vote  of  the  people  and  of  the  cantons. 

After  1848  direct  legislation  by  the  people  now 
gained  and  now  lost  ground,  but  the  setbacks  were 
the  less  frequent.  Shortly  after  1848,  the  can- 
tons of  Zug  and  Schwyz  abolished  their  Lands- 
gemein'de  and  adopted  in  its  place  the  referendum 
together  with  the  initiative  upon  constitutional 
questions.  Other  Landsgemeinden  lost  some  of 
their  powers.  Valais,  where  constitutional  legis- 
lation seems  highly  unstable,  adopted  representa- 
tive institutions.  But  in  Thurgau  the  veto  was 


DEMOCRACY  IN  SWITZERLAND  35 

instituted  in  1849  and  in  Schaffhausen  in  1852, 
while  in  1852  Valais  again  adopted  a  referendum 
confined  to  financial  questions  and  at  the  same 
time  gave  to  6,000  citizens  the  right  of  initiative 
in  constitutional  matters.  In  the  same  year 
Aargau  accorded  to  5,000  citizens  the  initiative  in 
general  legislation  and  to  6,000  citizens  the  ini- 
tiative for  obtaining  a  total  or  partial  revision  of 
the  Constitution.  In  1858,  after  finally  shaking 
itself  free  from  the  domination  of  the  King  of 
Prussia,  Neuchatel  retained  its  representative  in- 
stitutions with  the  addition  of  a  referendum  upon 
any  loan  or  financial  engagement  exceeding 
500,000  francs  and  upon  any  change  in  the  basis 
of  the  organization  of  the  Church.  In  1861 
Vaud  reduced  to  6,000  the  number  of  signatures 
required  for  the  initiative  and  decided  that  every 
loan  of  a  million  francs  or  more  should  be  com- 
pulsorily  subject  to  a  vote  of  the  people. 

A  fresh  advance  was  made  in  1863  by  the 
demi-canton  of  Basel-Land.  The  veto  and  the 
referendum  upon  legislation  had  hitherto  been 
optional.  Basel-Land  introduced  the  compulsory 
referendum.  All  laws  and  decisions  of  general 
application  voted  by  the  Great  Council  had  to  be 
submitted  to  the  people  thirty  days  at  the  earliest 
after  their  publication  in  the  official  gazette. 

The  zenith  of  the  movement  was  reached  in 


36      REAL  DEMOCRACY  IN  OPERATION 

1869  in  the  canton  of  Zurich,  governed  at  that 
time  by  a  progressive  party  which  included  many 
able  men  but  had  called  forth  the  denunciations 
of  its  opponents  by  a  tendency  to  degenerate  into 
cliques  and  to  exhibit  that  contempt  for  popular 
aspirations  which  was  one  of  the  causes  of  its 
downfall.  The  opposing  party,  which  had  taken 
the  title  of  "democratic,"  obtained  a  strong 
majority  in  the  Constituent  Assembly  and  drew  up 
a  Constitution  in  which  are  to  be  found  all  the 
popular  rights  which  since  then  have  been  adopted 
by  the  other  cantons.  Sovereignty  was  taken  from 
the  Great  Council,  which  had  been  practically  all- 
powerful,  and  restored  to  the  people.  Popular 
election  was  extended  with  but  few  exceptions  to 
all  political,  administrative  and  judicial  authori- 
ties. The  Constitution  recognized  the  right  of  the 
people  to  take  its  share  in  legislation  by  means  of 
the  compulsory  referendum  and  the  initiative. 
Few  subjects  were  exempt  from  the  compulsory 
referendum,  and  the  initiative  appeared  in  the 
threefold  form  of  a  legislative  proposal  supported 
by  5,000  citizens,  a  resolution  presented  by  5,000 
citizens,  or  a  petition  addressed  to  the  Great 
Council  of  the  canton  by  a  private  individual  or  a 
public  authority  and  supported  by  one-third  of  the 
members  of  the  Council. 

The  reforms  carried  out  at  Zurich  had  an  im- 


DEMOCRACY  IN  SWITZERLAND          37 

mediate  influence  upon  the  canton  of  Thurgau, 
which  completed  the  revision  of  its  Constitution 
some  months  even  before  Zurich,  adopted  the 
compulsory  referendum  operating  twice  a  year  and 
the  initiative  in  a  form  permitting  2,500  citizens 
to  requisition  the  making  or  the  amendment  of  a 
law  or  a  decree.  In  the  same  year  the  canton  of 
Bern  introduced  a  compulsory  referendum  apply- 
ing to  all  laws  and  to  resolutions  of  the  Great 
Council  resulting  in  the  expenditure  of  500,000 
francs  upon  any  one  object.  The  people  of  Bern 
were  unable  to  make  up  their  minds  to  accept 
the  initiative,  but  Solothurn  adopted  it  in  a  form 
almost  identical  with  that  of  Thurgau.  A  year 
later,  Aargau  joined  the  ranks  of  the  cantons 
having  a  compulsory  referendum.  In  1869  the 
optional  referendum  was  introduced  at  Lucerne 
and  extended  to  financial  decisions  involving  an 
annual  expenditure  of  at  least  20,000  francs  or 
an  extraordinary  expenditure  of  at  least  200,000 
francs. 

It  was  during  this  period  that  the  right  of  re- 
call, as  applied  to  the  Great  Council  or  the  gov- 
ernment or  both,  first  came  to  the  fore.  It  was 
introduced  in  1852  in  the  cantons  of  Aargau  and 
Schaffhausen,  from  which  it  passed  to  several 
other  cantons.  The  number  of  citizens  needed  for 
requisitioning  a  vote  upon  the  question  of  the  re- 


38       REAL  DEMOCRACY  IN  OPERATION 

call  of  the  Councils  varied  from  1,000  to  6,000. 

At  the  time  of  the  revision  of  the  Constitution 
in  1872  and  1874  it  was  natural  for  the  partisans 
of  popular  rights  to  endeavor  to  have  such  pro- 
visions inserted  in  the  federal  Constitution,  in 
which  they  existed  only  since  1848  in  the  form  of 
a  limited  constitutional  referendum.  They  en- 
countered stubborn  opposition  from  the  federal- 
ists, who  were  anxious  about  the  effects  which  the 
development  of  legislative  functions  by  the  Swiss 
people  considered  as  a  whole  might  have  upon 
cantonal  sovereignty.  Ultimately,  article  89  of 
the  Constitution  as  revised  in  1874  established  an 
optional  referendum  upon  federal  laws  and  de- 
crees of  general  application  (German:  allgemein 
verbindlich)  and  not  of  an  urgent  character.  Ex- 
perience was  to  show  that  this  elastic  formula  left 
very  considerable  scope  for  arbitrary  action  on  the 
part  of  the  federal  Chambers.  It  was  interpreted 
as  excluding  a  popular  vote  on  financial  credits, 
loans,  military  credits,  subsidies  for  river  im- 
provements, etc. 

Finally,  in  1891,  by  a  partial  revision  of  the 
Constitution  originating  in  the  Chambers  and  rati- 
fied by  a  majority  of  the  people  and  of  the  can- 
tons, the  right  of  the  people  to  demand  the  par- 
tial, and  not  merely  the  total,  revision  of  the 
federal  Constitution,  was  inserted  in  the  latter. 


DEMOCRACY  IN  SWITZERLAND          39 

The  signatures  of  50,000  electors  were  sufficient 
to  challenge  a  vote  of  the  people  either  on  the 
general  question  or  on  the  text  of  the  proposal 
presented  by  the  petitioners. 

From  that  date,  the  flood  of  popular  legislation 
has  not  ceased  to  rise.  Apart  from  the  canton 
of  Freiburg,  the  last  stronghold  of  representative 
democracy  where  the  rights  of  the  people  are 
restricted  practically  to  the  election  of  the  Great 
Council  and  to  the  total  or  partial  revision  of  the 
Constitution,  all  the  cantons  enjoy  at  the  present 
day  the  referendum  upon  constitutional  changes 
and  legislative  proposals  in  either  the  compulsory 
or  the  optional  form,  as  well  as  the  initiative; 
and  there  are  now  only  two — Valais  and  Freiburg 
— in  which  the  State  Council  (the  executive 
power)  is  still  elected  by  the  Great  Council.  It  is 
clear  that  since  the  beginning  of  the  nineteenth 
century  the  extension  of  popular  rights  has  pur- 
sued its  course  slowly  at  the  outset,  but  constantly 
and  almost  uninterruptedly.  If  exception  is  made 
of  the  abolition  of  two  Landsgemeinden,  there  has 
been  scarcely  any  retrogression  save  upon  second- 
ary points.  In  the  end  the  movement  has  af- 
fected all  the  cantons,  the  French-speaking  as 
much  as  the  German-speaking.  At  this  stage  I 
am  concerned  only  to  establish  the  fact;  I  shall 
deal  later  with  its  causes  and  effects. 


CHAPTER  III 

THE  LANDSGEMEINDE 

AN  account  of  the  form  which  democracy  takes 
in  Switzerland  would  be  incomplete  without  some 
consideration  of  the  ancient  institution  known  as 
Landsgemeinden.  These  political  assemblies, 
comprising  the  whole  of  the  citizens  of  the  State, 
have  no  parallel  in  Europe.  With  one  interrup- 
tion of  a  few  years  following  the  French  invasion 
of  1789,  they  have  been  in  existence  for  more  than 
six  centuries,  and  in  almost  all  their  essential 
features  they  remain  just  as  they  were  at  the 
dawn  of  Swiss  freedom.  In  his  Alpes  suisses, 
Eugene  Rambert  has  made  a  very  thorough  study 
of  this  institution.  He  has  been  present  at  many 
Landsgemeinden,  consulted  the  original  docu- 
ments and  questioned  the  people  most  competent 
to  supply  information.  From  many  points  of 
view,  he  has  said  the  last  word  on  the  subject,  and 
I  shall  borrow  largely  from  his  work  in  the  pages 
which  follow. 

The  Landsgemeinden  are  the  offspring  of  the 
medieval  communes,  of  those  free  communities 

40 


THE  LANDSGEMEINDE  41 

which  valiantly  maintained  their  struggle  for  ex- 
istence in  the  midst  of  unbridled  selfishness. 
Switzerland  is  the  only  country  in  Europe  where 
they  have  given  rise  to  free  and  lasting  political 
institutions.  The  Landsgemeinde  is  all  that  re- 
mains of  the  vast  organization  of  federated  so- 
cieties of  which  we  catch  a  glimpse  in  the  Middle 
Ages.  The  commune  of  olden  days,  grown  now 
to  the  dignity  of  a  canton,  comes  to  life  again  in 
the  solemn  assembly  deliberating  under  the  vault 
of  heaven. 

Rambert  divides  the  history  of  the  Landsge- 
meinden  into  two  periods:  first,  what  he  calls 
the  early  period,  extending  from  primitive  times 
to  the  collapse  of  the  old  Confederation,  and  then 
the  modern  period,  the  duration  of  which  is  rather 
more  than  a  century. 

The  first  Landsgemeinde  of  which  there  is  any 
definite  record  occurred  towards  the  end  of  the 
thirteenth  century,  in  1294.  Assembled  in  their 
Landsgemeinde,  the  people  of  Schwyz  pledged 
themselves  upon  oath  to  maintain  certain  prescrip- 
tive rights  touching  taxation  and  the  alienation  of 
landed  property.  There  is  every  reason  to  believe 
that  Uri  and  Unterwalden  also  possessed  regu- 
larly organized  Landsgemeinden  looking  upon 
themselves  as  sovereign.  The  pact  which  sealed 
the  independence  of  primitive  Switzerland  in  1291 


42      REAL  DEMOCRACY  IN  OPERATION 

was  concluded  by  the  men  of  the  valley  of  Uri, 
the  "community"  of  the  valley  of  Schwyz  and  the 
"community"  of  the  men  of  Entremonts  in  the 
lower  valley.  Doubtless  this  pact  was  ratified  by 
the  assemblies  of  the  people.  The  separation  of 
Unterwalden  into  Obwalden  and  Nidwalden  was 
admittedly  decided  in  the  Landsgemeinde  in  the 
middle  of  the  twelfth  century.  The  communities 
of  Gersau,  Urseren  and  Zug  would  not  have  been 
formed  without  the  example  and  assistance  of  the 
Forest  Cantons.  That  of  Zug  was  their  work. 
Those  of  Glarus  and  Appenzell  imitated  them 
freely.  In  this  way  there  sprang  up  in  medieval 
times  quite  a  colony  of  free  democracies  in  the 
full  sense  of  the  terms.  They  possessed  regularly 
constituted  governments,  and  wielded  powers 
which  shortly  became  almost  absolute,  but  which, 
nevertheless,  was  very  likely  to  be  exercised  prop- 
erly, if  it  is  true  that  the  interest  of  the  majority 
coincides  more  often  with  the  interest  of  all  than 
with  that  of  an  aristocracy  or  a  monarch.  But 
pure  democracy,  like  every  other  form  of  govern- 
ment, is  subject  to  the  inherent  laws  of  its  exist- 
ence, which  it  may  not  violate  without  falling  into 
decay.  An  easy  clue  to  these  is  provided  by  the 
history  of  this  institution. 

The  Landsgemeinden  of  1315  are  accepted  as 
the  first  of  the  series  of  sovereign  Landsgemein- 


THE  LANDSGEMEINDE  43 

den.  From  the  very  origin  of  these  assemblies, 
their  conservative  character  and  the  importance 
which  they  attached  to  certain  traditional  forms 
are  apparent.  The  Landsgemeinden,  which  are 
the  soul  of  pure  democracy,  have  changed  but 
little.  The  earliest  probably  fulfilled  the  func- 
tions of  a  court  of  justice.  In  passing  judgment, 
they  began  to  lay  down  rules,  define  custom  and 
interfere  in  current  affairs.  The  Council,  sitting 
beside  them,  does  not  appear  in  the  formula  of 
treaties  of  alliance  till  1352.  In  the  towns,  at  Lu- 
cerne, Zurich,  and  Bern,  it  is  the  Council  which 
provides  the  motive  power  and  forms  the  corner- 
stone of  the  constitution;  in  the  rural  cantons, 
on  the  other  hand,  everything  springs  from  the 
community,  and  the  Council  is  merely  an  adminis- 
trative machine,  the  need  for  which  is  slowly  felt 
as  affairs  increase  in  complexity. 

The  age  of  admission  to  the  Landsgemeinde 
was  at  first  fourteen  years.  The  oath  of  alle- 
giance used  to  be  administered  at  the  age  of  four- 
teen, and  the  obligation  to  give  military  service 
in  the  defense  of  the  country  probably  began  at 
the  same  time.  In  the  fifteenth  century,  the  ma- 
jority of  cantons  raised  the  age  to  sixteen;  but 
it  is  certain  that  in  1291  and  1315  children  of 
fourteen  voted  with  their  fathers  and  grand- 
fathers and  took  their  place  by  hundreds  in  the 


44      REAL  DEMOCRACY  IN  OPERATION 

ranks  of  the  founders  of  Swiss  independence.  It 
is  estimated  that  during  this  period  the  Lands- 
gemeinde  of  Schwyz  and  Uri  counted  a  maximum 
attendance  of  1,600  and  1,000  respectively.  Ob- 
walden  and  Nidwalden  together  would  give  a  sub- 
stantially higher  figure. 

Attendance  at  the  principal  Landsgemeinde, 
that  held  in  May,  was  compulsory  for  all  citizens. 
This  Landsgemeinde,  which  was  invariably  in- 
vested with  a  certain  pomp,  was  often  followed 
by  a  supplementary  meeting  or  Nachgemeinde, 
extraordinary  assemblies  without  ceremonial  in 
which  the  people  disposed  of  matters  which 
could  not  be  settled  in  May  or  which  arose  since 
then.  The  circular  form  of  meeting  (German: 
Ring)  seems  to  have  been  chosen  instinctively 
from  the  very  earliest  times.  The  chief  magis- 
trate of  the  locality,  the  Landammann,  took  his 
seat  on  a  platform  in  the  center.  The  Lands- 
gemeinde always  opened  with  a  religious  cere- 
mony and  an  address  by  the  Landammann. 

Originally,  the  fidelity  of  the  people  to  their 
chief,  the  Landammann,  was  remarkable.  Chosen 
from  the  most  respected  families  of  the  country, 
the  Landammann  carries  the  mind  back  to  the 
dynasties  of  shepherd-kings.  Harmony  between 
the  people  and  their  chiefs,  concentration  of  all 
power  in  the  hands  of  the  assembled  people,  cus- 


THE  LANDSGEMEINDE  45 

torn  taking  the  place  of  laws,  great  simplicity  in 
political  procedure  and  machinery — such  are  the 
essential  features  of  the  Landsgemeinden  of  heroic 
times. 

Decay  came  with  the  abandonment  of  the  mod- 
est, straightforward  and  noble  policy  of  those 
times.  The  military  successes  of  the  Confederate 
States  led  to  treaties  with  foreign  powers,  "capitu- 
lations" by  which  they  undertook  to  supply  mer- 
cenary troops.  From  that  time  foreign  ambassa- 
dors sought  to  bribe  influential  chiefs  with  gold; 
votes  were  bought;  corruption  spread  throughout 
public  life.  The  Confederates  prided  themselves 
on  the  price  which  was  given  for  the  co-operation 
of  their  troops.  They  surrounded  the  May  Lands- 
gemeinde  with  a  new  pomp.  The  ceremonial  was 
fixed.  For  the  opening  of  the  Landsgemeinde, 
a  platoon  of  troops  was  called  out.  The 
principal  magistrate  and  the  members  of  the 
Council  formed  a  procession  W(hich,  headed  by 
minor  dignitaries,  in  full  uniform,  proceeded  ma- 
jestically towards  the  appointed  spot.  The  Land- 
ammann  opened  the  Landsgemeinde  with  an  ad- 
dress, not  very  different  from  a  speech  from  the 
throne,  in  which  he  reviewed  European  happen- 
ings. 

As  there  were  no  rules  of  procedure  in  the 
Landsgemeinde,  laws  were  passed  against  those 


46      REAL  DEMOCRACY  IN  OPERATION 

who  attempted  to  create  a  disturbance.  The  first 
law  against  interrupters  was  placed  on  record  in 
1525  at  Appenzell.  It  condemned  them  to  a  fine 
of  one  livre  and  ejection  from  the  Ring.  Shortly 
afterwards  rules  of  a  similar  character  be- 
came general.  At  Schwyz,  the  interrupter  was  re- 
quired to  ask  pardon  from  God  and  the  magis- 
trates. At  Stans,  he  was  obliged  to  kneel  down 
in  the  middle  of  the  Ring  and  repeat  the  Pater- 
noster and  Ave  Maria  five  times.  But  the  most 
serious  difficulties  arose  over  the  control  of  dis- 
cussion. Upon  this  point  the  necessity  for  rules 
was  felt  soonest  and  the  greatest  trouble  experi- 
enced in  framing  any.  The  constant  preoccupa- 
tion of  the  magistrates,  and  especially  of  the 
Landammann  who  had  the  responsibility  of  pre- 
siding, was  to  provide  against  confused  discus- 
sions, perplexing  intricacy  and  thoughtless  deci- 
sions; that  of  the  people  was  to  maintain  its  lib- 
erty intact.  The  one  sought  to  limit  the  right 
of  individual  initiative  of  the  members  of  the 
Landsgemeinde ;  they  desired  that  every  proposal 
should  be  first  submitted  to  the  Council  a  certain 
number  of  days  or  weeks  beforehand.  The  other 
insisted  upon  the  right  of  everyone  to  present  at 
any  time  whatever  proposals  he  thought  fit.  In 
some  Landsgemeinden  the  authoritarian  principle 
was  established  without  a  struggle.  This  was  the 


THE  LANDSGEMEINDE  47 

case  at  Appenzell-Ausserrhoden,  where  every  pro- 
posal by  an  individual  must  without  exception  be 
submitted  to  the  Council.  In  other  cases,  at  Stans 
for  example,  the  people  defended  their  freedom 
of  initiative  with  desperation. 

In  1738  a  citizen  of  Appenzell  so  far  forgot 
himself  as  to  bring  forward  without  warning  in  the 
Landsgemeinde  an  individual  motion  upon  a  ques- 
tion of  finance.  He  was  immediately  stripped  of 
his  sword  and  placed  in  the  pillory  with  a  bit  in 
his  mouth  and  a  board  above  his  head  bearing 
the  word  "Rebel."  At  Stans,  on  the  other  hand, 
the  conflict  between  the  Landsgemeinde  and  the 
Council  upon  this  point  continued  until  1700,  in 
which  year  it  was  solemnly  decided  to  allow  every- 
one to  propose  "anything  that  be  not  contrary  to 
the  glory  of  God  or  to  the  honor  and  advantage 
of  the  fatherland,"  a  formula  which  was  sup- 
pressed in  the  following  year  because  the  magis- 
trates seemed  to  take  advantage  of  it  to  restrict 
individual  liberty. 

In  some  cantons  the  Landammann  used  to  be 
re-elected  from  year  to  year,  the  people  remain- 
ing faithful  to  the  same  chief  magistrate  for 
twenty  or  thirty  years  (a  similar  occurrence  might 
still  be  found  to-day) ,  while  Nidwalden  had  a  law 
by  which  anyone  who  proposed  the  re-election  of 
the  retiring  Landammann  was  declared  forsworn, 


48      REAL  DEMOCRACY  IN  OPERATION 

and  condemned  to  pay  a  fine  of  one  thousand 
florins.  This  provision  made  room  for  a  curious 
combination  by  which  four  citizens  were  appointed 
Landammann  for  life  and  one  of  them  chosen  to 
take  office  each  year.  In  most  Landsgemeinden, 
the  huissier,  whose  function  was  originally  that 
of  judge,  acted  as  provisional  president  of  the 
assembly. 

The  power  of  the  Landsgemeinden  increased 
considerably  when  they  succeeded  in  depriving  the 
Landammanner  of  the  exclusive  right  of  convoca- 
tion. Thereafter  they  considered  themselves  ab- 
solutely sovereign  in  law  and  in  fact.  They  no 
longer  recognized  any  sphere  in  which  the  State 
was  debarred  from  action.  "The  Landsge- 
meinde,"  ran  a  declaration  carried  at  Stans  on 
the  loth  July,  1712,  "must  be  sovereign  in  the 
land.  It  makes  and  unmakes  without  conditions, 
and  if  anyone  denies  that  the  Landsgemeinde  is 
the  first  and  sovereign  authority  in  the  country, 
let  him  be  outlawed  and  a  price  of  100  ducats 
placed  upon  his  head."  A  far  cry,  indeed,  from 
the  modest  terms  of  the  pact  of  1291 ! 

The  completeness  of  the  confusion  of  powers 
would  make  Montesquieu  and  his  school  shudder. 
The  Landsgemeinden  do  not  confine  themselves  to 
promulgating  laws,  declaring  war,  concluding 
peace,  authorizing  recruiting,  deciding  all  matters 


THE  LANDSGEMEINDE  49 

touching  subject  lands,  coining  money,  having 
roads  constructed,  granting  or  refusing  naturaliza- 
tion, passing  accounts,  and  exercising  in  short  all 
the  privileges  of  the  superior  legislative  authority. 
In  addition,  they  practice  the  right  of  interpella- 
tion; they  act  as  judge  in  great  political  trials; 
they  even  bring  within  their  jurisdiction  certain 
civil  cases ;  they  sentence  to  a  fine,  to  imprisonment 
and  to  death;  they  enjoy  the  prerogative  of  par- 
don ;  they  tax  food  and  wine,  fix  maximum  prices, 
just  like  the  Federal  Council  of  1918;  in  a  word, 
they  do  whatever  it  pleases  them  to  do,  up  to  the 
point  at  which  a  certain  separation,  at  any  rate 
in  judicial  matters,  is  introduced.  It  is  realized 
that  judgments  should  be  pronounced  by  a  special 
body,  and  criminal  cases  pass  from  the  Lands- 
gemeinde  to  the  Council  or  to  an  ad  hoc  tribunal. 
It  was  left  till  the  present  century  to  push  separa- 
tion still  farther,  and  to  establish  in  the  cantons 
possessing  a  Landsgemeinde  a  distribution  of 
powers  which  is  not  widely  different  from  that  pre- 
vailing in  other  cantons. 

The  military  "capitulations"  and  the  corrup- 
tion in  which  they  resulted  caused  iniquitous  judg- 
ments to  be  pronounced  by  the  Landsgemeinden, 
during  the  period  when  faction,  the  venality  of 
voters,  and  the  lavish  distribution  of  wine,  prom- 


50      REAL  DEMOCRACY  IN  OPERATION 

ises  and  money  in  the  taverns  produced  the  most 
deplorable  effects. 

The  old  Confederation  of  the  Thirteen  Can- 
tons, that  which  came  to  an  end  in  1798,  included 
eleven  Landsgemeinden,  those  of  Appenzell- 
Ausserrhoden,  Appenzell,  Gersau,  Catholic 
Innerrhoden,  Glarus,  Protestant  Glarus,  Nid- 
walden,  Obwalden,  Schwyz,  Uri,  Urseren  and 
Zug.  In  Switzerland  to-day  there  are  only  six. 
Gersau  and  Urseren  were  rather  assemblies  of 
communes  than  Landsgemeiden  proper.  The  two 
Landsgemeinden  of  Glarus  coalesced  in  1836. 
The  Landsgemeinde  of  Schwyz  disappeared,  the 
victim  of  its  own  excesses,  after  disorder  and 
party  strife  of  an  extreme  violence  lasting  from 
1830  to  1847.  Upon  the  dissolution  of  the  Son- 
derbund,  Schwyz  had  perforce  to  capitulate  and 
allow  the  liberal  opposition  to  gain  power  and 
vote  a  new  Constitution  in  which  it  was  agreed 
to  dispense  with  the  cantonal  Landsgemeinde  in 
any  shape  or  form. 

Such  then,  in  broadest  outline,  was  the  history 
of  the  Landsgemeinden  from  the  heroic  period 
until  their  decay.  Abolished  in  1798,  when  a  Re- 
public one  and  indivisible  was  imposed  upon  Swit- 
zerland, they  were  re-established  in  1803  by  the 
Act  of  Mediation  granted  to  Switzerland  by 
Bonaparte.  When  the  partisans  of  the  represen- 


THE  LANDSGEMEINDE  51 

tative  system  raised  objections  on  the  score  of  the 
disorder  attending  the  discussions  of  the  Lands- 
gemeinden,  the  First  Consul  remarked  that  it  was 
easy  to  remedy  that  by  binding  each  Landsge- 
meiride  to  deal  with  nothing  outside  the  official 
agenda.  This  principle  was  adopted  everywhere, 
notably  at  Stans,  where  the  authorities  had  for  so 
long  sought  to  establish  it,  and  at  Glarus,  where 
every  citizen  still  had  the  right  to  propose  what- 
ever he  thought  fit,  as  soon  as  the  official  busi- 
ness was  disposed  of. 

With  the  downfall  of  Napoleon,  the  democratic 
cantons  were  again  master  in  their  own  house  and 
the  Landsgemeinden  reacted  to  the  change.  Nev- 
ertheless, they  reverted  to  their  old  practices  only 
in  part.  The  old-fashioned  ceremonial  was  cut 
down.  At  Glarus  there  were  abolished,  one  after 
the  other,  the  wearing  of  swords,  the  three-cor- 
nered hat,  the  cloak  of  officials,  and  the  custom 
by  which  all  the  bands  and  fifers  of  the  canton 
marched  at  the  head  of  the  procession. 

The  profoundest  change  occurred  after  1848, 
when  all  the  cantons  were  obliged  to  bring  their 
institutions  into  harmony  with  the  principles  of  the 
federal  Constitution  and  have  them  approved  by 
the  Chambers.  Before  1798,  the  cantons  which 
possessed  a  Landsgemeinde  had  no  systematic 
constitution,  but  simply  a  Landbuch,  a  collection 


52       REAL  DEMOCRACY  IN  OPERATION 

of  laws  and  decrees  which  was  revised  from  time 
to  time.  Uri  and  Nidwalden  remained  faithful  to 
the  system  of  unwritten  Constitutions  until  1850. 
To-day  the  Landsgemeinden  no  longer  enjoy  un- 
limited sovereignty.  The  citizens  are  subject  to  a 
law  imposed  by  themselves,  and  obtaining  sanction 
from  a  federal  authority,  from  which  redress  may 
be  obtained  in  the  event  of  their  violating  it. 
Both  in  law  and  in  fact,  the  old  democracies  have 
ceased,  very  much  to  their  own  advantage,  to  be 
absolute  governments.  Hence  followed  a  whole 
series  of  changes  in  law  and  practice.  The  age  of 
qualification  for  voting  in  the  Landsgemeinde  was 
raised  from  14  or  16  years  to  18  or  20.  Nid- 
walden had  to  give  up  its  four  Landammanner  ap- 
pointed for  life  and  be  satisfied  with  two,  ap- 
pointed for  six  years  and  holding  office  alternately. 
The  "tribunal  of  blood,"  composed  of  all  citizens 
over  30  years  of  age,  gave  way  to  a  criminal  court 
consisting  of  the  ordinary  court  of  law  and  the 
Council.  The  powers  of  the  Landsgemeinde  are 
formally  defined.  It  is  now  only  the  superior 
elective  and  legislative  authority — a  position  of  no 
mean  importance.  Appointment  by  lot  and  the 
exercise  of  political  functions  passed  away,  while 
bribery  and  corrupt  practices  came  to  an  end 
simultaneously  with  the  military  capitulations  and 
the  suppression  of  subject  territories. 


THE  LANDSGEMEINDE  53 

In  Rambert's  study  of  the  Landsgemeinde  will 
be  found  a  multitude  of  other  curious  details. 
The  following  account  will  perhaps  be  of  inter- 
est to  my  readers.  He  is  speaking  of  a  Lands- 
gemeinde of  Appenzell-Ausserrhoden  held  at 
Trogen : 

"This  Landsgemeinde  is  by  far  the  biggest.  It 
numbers  up  to  ten  or  eleven  thousand  members. 
Anyone  who  without  valid  excuse  fails  to  attend 
is  liable  to  a  fine.  .  .  .  There  are  processions 
along  all  the  main  roads.  Everyone  is  in  his  Sun- 
day clothes,  black  hat,  black  coat,  black  breeches 
— literally  everyone,  even  the  peasants  and  the 
very  poorest.  In  olden  days  they  used  to  carry 
real  swords;  some,  a  mere  handful,  do  so  still. 
Most  have  just  a  military  saber  or  a  hunting  knife. 
It  is  the  badge  of  full  citizenship.  .  .  . 

"At  the  moment  when  the  Landammann 
emerges  from  the  town-hall  the  Landsgemeinde 
uncovers,  and  where  were  10,000  hats  appear 
10,000  human  skulls,  a  sea  of  heads.  .  .  .  The 
coldest  and  most  phlegmatic  of  men  are  moved 
like  the  rest.  One  fears  to  breathe.  This  is  a 
people,  not  a  tribal  concourse  as  at  Stans  or  Sar- 
nen;  it  is  a  true  people,  showing  its  respect  with 
single-minded  sincerity. 

"When  votes  are  taken  the  people  respond  with 
wonderful  unity.  Whether  they  vote  for  or 


54      REAL  DEMOCRACY  IN  OPERATION 

against,  by  the  thousand  or  by  the  ten  thousand, 
they  raise  their  hands  as  one  man,  throwing  them 
into  the  air  palms  open  with  an  incredible  quick- 
ness. The  strength  of  the  parties  is  judged  by 
the  effect  of  whiteness  produced  by  the  simul- 
taneous lifting  of  all  these  hands.  ...  If  there 
is  any  doubt,  the  test  is  repeated.  The  Landam- 
mann  summons  to  the  platform  citizens  from  both 
parties,  and  forms  a  commission  of  experts  from 
whose  decision  there  is  no  appeal.  .  .  . 

".  .  .  At  the  close  comes  the  taking  of  the 
oath.  This  is  the  supreme  moment.  The  cere- 
mony is  utterly  overwhelming  in  its  solemnity. 
The  oath  is  that  of  antiquity,  all-compelling  in  its 
power.  The  formula  is  read  to  the  Landammann 
who,  with  raised  hand,  replies  in  these  terms:  'I 
have  fully  understood  what  has  been  read  to  me. 
I  am  resolved  to  keep  it,  truly  and  at  all  times, 
faithfully  and  without  fraud,  as  truly  as  I  wish 
and  pray  that  God  may  sustain  me.'  When  the 
Landammann  has  sworn,  he  confronts  the  people 
and  administers  the  oath  to  them  in  their  turn. 
They  must  promise  loyalty  one  to  another.  The 
pledges  are  interdependent.  Out  of  10,000  citi- 
zens there  is  not  one  who  does  not  raise  his  hand, 
not  one  who  does  not  repeat  the  formula,  sentence 
by  sentence,  as  it  is  read,  slowly  pronouncing  every 
word.  The  great  sound  which  rises  from  this 


THE  LANDSGEMEINDE  55 

motionless  assembled  multitude  is  perhaps  the 
most  awe-inspiring  that  is  given  to  man  to  hear 
upon  the  earth.  No  sound  of  nature,  neither 
wind  nor  waves,  no  musical  sound,  not  even  the 
great  organ  reverberating  through  the  cathedral, 
reaches  the  same  intensity  of  religious  awe.  The 
world  of  appearances  has  gone:  there  remains 
only  the  true  world,  that  of  human  consciousness 
face  to  face  with  itself.  The  ceremony  concluded, 
the  Landammann  wishes  everyone  a  safe  journey 
home,  and  terminates  the  meeting." 

Opening  the  Landsgemeinde  of  Glarus  in  May, 
1866,  the  Landammann  Heer,  who  was  later  a 
member  of  the  Federal  Council,  expressed  him- 
self in  these  terms : 

"Under  the  Landsgemeinde  as  we  have  it,  this 
day  in  each»year  when  the  citizens  are  called  upon 
to  exercise  their  most  sacred  rights  and  discharge 
their  most  sacred  duties,  is,  indeed  a  day  of  toil, 
and  of  toil  by  no  means  easy  of  accomplishment; 
but  at  the  same  time  it  is  the  supreme  festival  of 
our  people.  With  high-minded  feelings  of  joy 
and  pride,  our  country-folk  gather  here  from  the 
mountains  and  the  plains  to  take  counsel  together 
for  the  prosperity  of  the  country.  Each  one  of 
them  feels  that  this  is  the  people's  day  of  honor, 
the  day  when  the  opinion  and  judgment  of  the 
least  citizen  and  of  the  richest  or  most  powerful 


56      REAL  DEMOCRACY  IN  OPERATION 

are  of  the  same  worth,  the  day  when  equality 
— equality  of  rights  for  all — becomes  the  com- 
pletest  and  clearest  of  truths. 

"Nowadays,  in  the  cantons  as  in  the  Confedera- 
tion, there  is  much  talk  of  extending  the  rights 
of  the  people,  and  the  desire  is  easy  to  under- 
stand; but  what  is  intended  by  this  phrase  is  but 
a  feeble  shadow  of  what  we  in  our  Landsgemein- 
den  have  possessed  for  centuries.  Here  public 
officials  and  the  people  and  representatives  of  the 
most  conflicting  opinions  and  interests  meet  to- 
gether with  goodwill  side  by  side;  each  has  the 
right  to  express  his  view  but  must  allow  others 
to  rebut  it,  and  in  the  last  resort,  after  hearing 
both  sides,  the  whole  people  decides.  This  is  the 
peculiar  advantage  of  general  assemblies,  for 
which  there  is  not  even  an  approximate  compensa- 
tion when  the  people  is  called  upon  to  make  its 
decisions  by  splitting  up  into  numerous  small  as- 
semblies, each  one  of  which  is  exposed  to  special, 
and  often  exclusive,  influences. 

".  .  .  Let  us  not  be  led  into  error  by  the  love 
we  bear  towards  our  free  institutions,  our  Lands- 
gemeinden ;  but  let  us  rather  make  it  our  ambition 
to  prove  to  the  world,  or  at  least  to  our  fellow- 
citizens,  that  the  spirit  of  our  times,  the  spirit  of 
true  progress  and  true  humanity,  may  find  accept- 
ance also  in  this  form  of  institution." 


THE  LANDSGEMEINDE  57 

This  eulogy  of  the  Landsgemeinde  is  justified, 
but,  even  in  its  present  form  it  has  its  weaknesses 
and  disadvantages,  like  every  political  institution. 
Obviously  it  cannot  succeed  except  in  small  areas, 
and  there  only  provided  a  certain  unity  is  attained. 
Regional  and  political  differences  pushed  to  the 
extreme  formed  the  rock  upon  which  that  of 
Schwyz  came  to  grief.  Its  success  depends  in  a 
very  great  measure  upon  the  political  skill  and 
high  character  of  those  who  direct  it.  They  must 
know  how  to  manipulate  these  extremely  suscep- 
tible assemblies,  how  to  deal  with  would-be  dema- 
gogues and  how  to  steer  them  into  the  right  path 
without  their  suspecting  it.  If  it  is  more  or  less 
true  that  this  amounts  to  government  by  a  few 
men  forming  a  kind  of  aristocracy,  the  same  might 
be  said  of  almost  all  political  systems.  Neces- 
sarily, the  collective  will  is  in  the  last  analysis  the 
resultant  of  a  number  of  individual  wills  which 
it  influences  or  determines  more  or  less  strongly. 
The  Landsgemeinden  are  reproached  for  a  ten- 
dency towards  political  and  religious  intolerance, 
and  for  going  out  of  their  way  to  obstruct  the  path 
of  progress.  But  here  a  distinction  must  be  made. 
The  Landsgemeinde  of  Catholic  cantons,  the 
mountainous  or  agricultural  regions,  are  generally 
inspired  by  a  spirit  of  conservatism  and  loyalty  to 
tradition,  which  has  frequently  given  justification 


58      REAL  DEMOCRACY  IN  OPERATION 

for  this  criticism.  The  case  is  different  with  the 
Landsgemeinden  of  the  Protestant  and  industrial 
cantons,  Glarus  and  Appenzell-Ausserrhoden. 
These  cantons  have  contrived  to  follow  a  pro- 
gressive policy  and  work  out  satisfactory  solutions 
of  the  complicated  problems  presented  by  modern 
life  in  industrial  districts,  and  have  demonstrated 
that  the  institution  of  the  Landsgemeinde  is  en- 
tirely compatible  with  the  requirements  of  the 
age. 

To  complete  this  historical  sketch,  it  may  be 
useful  to  make  a  brief  survey  of  the  constitutions 
now  in  force  in  those  cantons  which  possess  a 
Landsgemeinde.  The  majority  of  these  were  re- 
vised towards  the  end  of  the  last  century. 

The  Constitution  of  Uri,  which  dates  from 
1888,  is  preceded  by  the  preamble:  "In  the  name 
of  Almighty  God,  the  people  of  the  canton  of  Uri 
establishes  the  following  cantonal  Constitution  in 
virtue  of  the  right  of  free  determination  inherited 
from  its  ancestors  through  a  space  of  more  than 
five  centuries." 

The  first  article  states  that  the  canton  of  Uri 
is  a  sovereign  canton,  within  the  limits  fixed  by 
the  Federal  Constitution,  and  that  its  institutions 
are  democratic.  Sovereignty  resides  in  the  people, 
which  passes  its  own  laws  and  Constitution  and 
elects  its  own  magistrates. 


THE  LANDSGEMEINDE  59 

The  section  dealing  with  the  rights  and  duties 
of  citizenship  lays  down  that  participation  in  the 
Landsgemeinde  and  in  the  assemblies  of  the  com- 
munes is  a  civic  duty.  Voting  is  by  show  of  hands, 
but  the  communes  have  the  power  to  introduce  the 
secret  ballot.  The  acceptance  of  offices  conferred 
by  the  Landrat  (Great  Council)  and  by  the  as- 
semblies of  communes  and  corporations  is  com- , 
pulsory  for  two  legal  terms. 

Any  enfranchised  citizen  or  group  of  citizens 
has  the  right  to  submit  proposals  to  the  Lands- 
gemeinde. In  the  case  of  amendments  to  the  Con- 
stitution, fifty  signatures  are  required.  All  ordi- 
nances and  all  resolutions  of  a  general  scope 
passed  by  the  Landrat  must  be  submitted  to  the 
Landsgemeinde  if  demanded  by  not  less  than 
twenty  citizens.  In  principle,  public  functions  are 
unpaid. 

Article  6,  which  defines  the  powers  of  authori- 
ties, asserts  that  the  Landsgemeinde  is  the  sover- 
eign legislative  authority  of  the  canton.  Its  or- 
dinary meeting  is  on  the  first  Sunday  in  May,  but 
special  meetings  are  held  whenever  either  it  or 
the  Landrat  decides,  or  when  demanded  by  150 
citizens.  The  Landammann  presides.  The 
Landrat  draws  up  the  list  of  subjects  for  discus- 
sion, as  well  as  the  time  and  place  of  special  meet- 
ings. Justice  and  the  public  weal,  and  not  des- 


60       REAL  DEMOCRACY  IN  OPERATION 

potism  or  the  power  of  the  strongest,  must  prevail 
in  the  Landsgemeinde,  declares  section  50.  And 
Article  51  adds  that  if  anyone  considers  his  pri- 
vate rights  infringed  by  a  decision  of  the  Lands- 
gemeinde, he  may  have  recourse  to  the  ordinary 
courts,  which  are  to  hear  the  evidence  and  decide 
conscientiously  between  the  people  and  the  plain- 
tiff. But  he  is  required  to  have  his  objection  en- 
tered upon  the  records  of  the  Landsgemeinde  and 
to  take  proceedings  within  a  month. 

Article  52  enumerates  the  powers  of  the 
Landsgemeinde  as  follows:  (a)  the  total  or  par- 
tial revision  of  the  Constitution;  (&)  the  right  to 
make  all  laws  and  to  decide  upon  proposals 
brought  forward  by  means  of  the  popular  initia- 
tive; (c)  the  voting  of  taxes  and  loans;  (d)  the 
renunciation  of  important  cantonal  rights  and  the 
concession  of  privileges;  (e)  the  granting  of  citi- 
zenship; (/)  the  creation  of  new  offices  at  a  fixed 
salary,  and  the  fixing  of  the  remuneration  of  the 
officials  and  servants  whom  it  elects;  (g]  the  elec- 
tion of  the  members  of  the  government  (Re- 
gierungsrat),  which  is  partially  renewed  every 
other  year;  that  of  the  Landammann  and  his  depu- 
ties for  a  term  of  one  year;  that  of  members  of 
the  Council  of  States,  of  members  and  deputies 
of  the  higher  Court,  the  criminal  court  and  the 
local  courts  subject  to.  partial  renewal  every  other 


THE  LANDSGEMEINDE  61 

year,  of  the  attorney-general  and  the  huissiers. 
The  Constitution  of  Obwalden  confers  practi- 
cally the  same  powers  upon  the  Landsgemeinde, 
but  it  states  them  more  precisely.  It  provides  in 
Article  26  that  the  Landsgemeinde  may  delegate 
to  the  Great  Council  (Kantonsrat)  the  right  of  en- 
acting laws.  As  it  is  highly  important  in  the  de- 
limitation of  the  respective  powers  of  the  Lands- 
gemeinde and  the  Great  Council  to  determine  the 
significance  of  the  word  "law,"  it  gives  this  defini- 
tion :  any  legislative  proposal  affecting  in  any  gen- 
eral and  lasting  manner  administration,  justice  or 
the  rights  and  duties  of  individuals,  public  corpor- 
ations, communes  or  the  State.  In  Article  26  it 
recognizes  the  right  of  any  elector  to  present  to 
the  Landammann  before  January  first  in  each 
year  proposals  for  the  enactment,  amendment  or 
repeal  of  ordinances,  provided  that  they  are 
within  the  competence  of  the  Landsgemeinde  and 
do  not  infringe  Federal  law.  These  proposals  are 
transmitted  to  the  Landsgemeinde,  exception 
being  made,  however,  of  ordinances  relating  to 
State  undertakings  of  an  economic  character 
which  have  to  be  conducted  upon  a  commercial 
basis.  If  these  proposals  involve  no  breach  of  the 
Federal  and  cantonal  Constitutions  or  of  private 
rights,  and  are  not  directed  against  injunctions 
or  judgments  delivered  by  other  authorities  within 


62       REAL  DEMOCRACY  IN  OPERATION 

the  limits  of  their  competence,  they  must  be  sub- 
mitted to  the  next  meeting  of  the  Landsgemeinde, 
together  with  the  opinion  of  the  Great  Council. 
If  the  latter  recommends  rejection,  the  originator 
of  the  proposal  has,  the  right  to  withdraw  it.  If 
it  approves,  he  is  required  to  support  it  in  person 
in  the  Landsgemeinde.  Should  he  not  put  in  an 
appearance,  his  absence  is  equivalent  to  a  with- 
drawal of  the  proposal.  When  the  time  comes  to 
decide,  the  Landsgemeinde  can  vote  only  upon  the 
specific  proposal  or  upon  a  counter-proposal  sub- 
mitted by  the  Great  Council. 

I  give  the  article  almost  in  its  entirety  in  order 
to  show  the  distance  between  this  minute  limita- 
tion of  the  right  of  initiative  in  the  Landsgemeinde 
and  the  wellnigh  complete  liberty  of  former  days. 

The  Great  Council  at  Obwalden  drafts  and 
moves  resolutions  submitted  to  the  Landsgemeinde 
by  it  or  the  local  governing  body.  A  certain  num- 
ber of  nominations  are  allotted  to  it.  It  appoints, 
for  example,  the  members  of  the  higher  court,  the 
education  committee,  the  health  committee  and  a 
host  of  administrative  officials. 

The  same  Constitution  contains  highly  detailed 
provisions  for  the  total  or  partial  revision  of  the 
Constitution,  which  can  be  requisitioned  by  500 
electors  and  submitted  to  the  Landsgemeinde. 
Nevertheless,  upon  the  demand  of  the  Great 


THE  LANDSGEMEINDE  63 

Council  or  of  1,200  electors,  questions  relating  to 
the  revision  and  the  proposal  itself  must  be  voted 
upon  in  the  communes  by  secret  ballot. 

The  counting  of  votes  has  always  been  a  deli- 
cate operation  in  cases  when  the  issue  is  close. 
Article  22  of  the  Constitution  of  Nidwalden  pre- 
scribes that  voting  is  by  show  of  hands,  and  the 
result  is  declared  by  the  cantonal  huissier  with  the 
help  of  two  other  huissiers  nominated  by  the 
government.  In  cases  of  especial  importance,  the 
government  is  empowered  to  nominate  two  addi- 
tional tellers  from  the  Landrat.  If,  after  two 
trials,  the  tellers  are  still  in  doubt  which  side  has 
the  majority,  they  proceed  to  count  the  voters — 
a  comparatively  easy  process  in  the  Landsge- 
meinde  of  Nidwalden,  which  is  one  of  the  smallest. 

In  Nidwalden,  non-cantonal  affairs  are  dealt 
with  by  assemblies  composed  of  the  electors  of  the 
commune,  and  forming,  according  to  their  func- 
tion, communes  for  the  election  of  the  Landrat, 
ecclesiastical  communes  (parishes),  educational 
communes  and  poor-relief  communes.  Each  parish 
forms  an  ecclesiastical  commune,  which  transacts 
its  business  in  a  general  assembly  of  all  the  ad- 
herents of  the  same  faith — nearly  the  whole  popu- 
lation of  Nidwalden  is  Roman  Catholic — or 
through  parish  councils  as  intermediaries.  The 
general  assembly  passes  the  accounts  of  the  parish, 


64       REAL  DEMOCRACY  IN  OPERATION 

fixes  the  "church  rate,"  and  carries  out  the  election 
of  incumbents,  in  accordance  with  its  traditional 
rights,  and  the  election  of  the  parish  council.  This 
demi-canton  is  divided  into  eleven  districts,  each 
of  which  possesses  a  communal  assembly  and  a 
council  elected  by  the  assembly  (parish  or  muni- 
cipal council). 

The  Landsgemeinde  of  Glarus  is  both  one  of 
the  most  numerous  and  one  of  those  in  which  dis- 
cussion as  well  as  voting  takes  place.  The  initia- 
tive of  the  individual  is  elaborately  regulated. 
Every  citizen  is  entitled  to  send  proposals  for 
what  is  called  the  "Memorial."  Subjects  which 
are  not  included  in  the  "Memorial"  cannot  be  de- 
bated in  the  Landsgemeinde.  Every  year,  in  the 
middle  of  December  at  latest,  the  government 
publishes  in  the  official  gazette  a  notice  inviting 
electors  or  authorities  who  wish  to  bring  proposals 
before  the  Landsgemeinde  to  send  them  before 
the  end  of  the  month,  in  writing,  signed  by  the 
author  and  accompanied  by  a  reasoned  statement 
in  support.  These  proposals  are  transmitted  to 
the  Great  Council  or  Landrat.  Those  which  con- 
tain nothing  contrary  to  the  cantonal  or  Federal 
Constitution,  and  which  are  supported  by  at  least 
ten  of  the  members  present,  are  submitted  to  the 
Landsgemeinde  with  the  opinion  of  the  Landrat 
and,  should  occasion  arise,  of  the  government  or 


THE  LANDSGEMEINDE  65 

a  competent  committee.  All  proposals  which  do 
not  gain  in  the  Landrat  the  ten  votes  required  be- 
fore that  body  considers  them  are  included  in  the 
"Memorial"  under  a  special  heading,  but  without ' 
any  message  from  the  government.  The  Lands- 
gemeinde  deal  with  these  forlorn  hopes  only  if  a 
special  resolution  to  that  effect  is  carried,  and  even 
then  its  decision  merely  rests  between  rejecting 
them  or  asking  the  Landrat  to  report  upon  them 
the  following  year.  In  this  way  waste  of  time  is 
avoided  with  idle  proposals  in  an  assembly  in 
which  discussion  only  admits  of  short  speeches,  al- 
ways to  the  point,  with  no  digressions  or  rhetorical 
flourishes. 

The  provisions  concerning  education  and  the 
church  are  also  not  without  interest.  In  the  can- 
ton of  Glarus  the  educational  communes  are  em- 
powered to  levy  a  capitation-tax  and  a  property- 
tax  to  meet  their  expenditure.  The  demi-canton 
of  Appenzell-Ausserrhoden  regulates  church  af- 
fairs as  follows:  Real  estate  applied  to  religious 
purposes  is  the  property  of  the  commune,  while 
all  other  ecclesiatical  property  belongs  to  the 
parish,  which  is  guaranteed  the  right  of  use  over 
glebe  lands. 

Participation  in  the  Landsgemeinde  of  Appen- 
zell-Ausserrhoden is  declared  a  civic  duty  up  to  the 
age  of  sixty  years.  Anyone  failing  to  attend  the 


66      REAL  DEMOCRACY  IN  OPERATION 

Landsgemeinde  without  valid  excuse  is  punished 
by  a  fine  of  ten  francs.  Among  the  powers  of  the 
Landsgemeinde  are  the  right  of  passing  or  reject- 
ing laws,  the  right  of  decision  upon  the  expendi- 
ture of  amounts  exceeding  30,000  francs  in  one 
sum  of  10,000  francs  annually,  and  the  election 
of  the  seven  members  of  the  government,  of  the 
Landammann,  of  the  eleven  members  of  the  su- 
preme court  and  of  the  cantonal  huissier.  The 
list  of  subjects  to  be  discussed  in  the  Lands- 
gemeinde is  drawn  up  by  the  Great  Council 
(Kantonsrat).  It  comprises  proposals  made  by 
the  Council  and  accompanied  by  a  message,  and 
those  initiated  by  private  individuals  with  the  ar- 
guments advanced  by  them  in  support.  It  is  pub- 
lished four  weeks  before  the  Landsgemeinde. 
The  latter  votes,  but  does  not  discuss.  Legisla- 
tive proposals  are  drafted  by  the  Great  Council, 
unless  the  Landsgemeinde  decides  to  entrust  the 
matter  to  a  special  body. 

The  cantons  in  which  pure  democracy  prevails 
have,  like  the  others,  embodied  in  their  constitu- 
tions the  same  personal  rights  as  are  guaranteed 
by  the  Federal  Constitution,  freedom  of  thought, 
of  worship,  etc.  The  only  one  which  makes  any 
formal  reservations  is  that  of  Appenzell-Inner- 
rhoden.  In  its  third  article  it  states  that  the 
Catholic  religion  enjoys,  as  the  religion  of  the 


THE  LANDSGEMEINDE  67 

people,  the  protection  and  guarantee  of  the  State, 
and  that  "toleration"  for  other  faiths  is  recog- 
nized, together  with  freedom  of  worship  for  their 
members  within  the  limits  of  morality.  The  word 
"toleration"  instead  of  "right"  is  not  in  harmony 
with  the  spirit  of  the  Federal  Constitution,  and 
savors  a  little  of  the  times  when  Catholic  Lands- 
gemeinden  practiced  a  policy  of  absolute  exclusion 
towards  other  religions. 

To  complete  this  sketch  of  the  organization  of 
the  political  life  of  the  cantons  which  still  prac- 
tice pure  democracy,  I  shall  here  summarize 
briefly  the  proceedings  of  the  Landsgemeinden 
held  in  April  and  May,  1919,  in  order  to  show 
clearly  how  this  characteristic  institution  works 
in  practice. 

The  canton  of  Uri  recently  passed  through  dif- 
ficult times.  In  spite  of  all  the  precautions  taken 
in  its  Constitution  and  laws  to  prevent  superfluous 
expenditure,  it  became  involved  in  a  financial  crisis 
which  brought  it  within  an  ace  of  ruin,  and  from 
which  it  was  rescued  only  by  the  aid  of  the  Con- 
federation. I  hasten  to  say  that  the  fault  does 
not  rest  with  the  Landsgemeinde.  Just  as  other 
cantons  have  their  State  Bank,  which  generally 
renders  good  service  and  swells  the  revenues  of 
the  canton,  Uri  has  a  cantonal  Savings  Bank,  for 
which  it  had  undertaken  unlimited  responsibility. 


68       REAL  DEMOCRACY  IN  OPERATION 

Thanks  to  the  carelessness  and  imprudence  of  its 
directors  and  officials,  thanks  also  to  the  blind 
confidence  of  certain  members  of  the  government 
and  their  imperviousness  to  the  warnings  of  the 
opposition,  this  Bank  had  embarked  upon  risky 
operations  out  of  all  proportion  to  the  resources 
of  a  canton  of  20,000  inhabitants,  and  far  re- 
moved from  the  sphere  of  its  normal  activities — 
industrial  enterprises,  hotels,  railways,  etc.  When 
the  crisis  caused  by  the  world  war  arose,  the  Bank» 
found  itself  unable  to  meet  its  obligations,  and  the 
canton,  one  of  the  glorious  cradles  of  Swiss  in- 
dependence, would  have  become  bankrupt  if  the 
Confederation  had  not  granted  it  a  loan  of  five 
million  francs.  The  Landsgemeinde  of  1918  had 
the  satisfaction  of  recording  an  improvement  in 
the  financial  situation.  Thanks  to  the  sale  of  a 
factory  acquired  by  the  Savings  Bank,  one  million 
was  repaid  to  the  Confederation,  and  the  debt  re- 
duced to  4,045,000  francs,  an  enormous  sum  in- 
deed for  the  canton,  which  is  compelled  in  con- 
sequence to  tax  itself  heavily.  The  Lands- 
gemeinde re-elected  as  Landammann  the  leader  of 
the  Radical-Liberal  opposition,  which  came  into 
power  after  the  crash  it  had  predicted. 

The  Landsgemeinde  of  Nidwalden,  held  at  Wil, 
close  to  Stans,  experienced  one  of  those  gusts  of 
independence  which  occasionally  upset  the  plans  of 


THE  LANDSGEMEINDE  69 

party  leaders.  The  opening  speech  was  lengthy, 
runs  the  report  from  which  these  details  are  taken. 
The  Landammann  praised  the  Pope,  praised  the 
Federal  Council,  praised  the  Nidwalden  troops 
discharging  their  patriotic  duty  on  the  frontier, 
paid  a  tribute  to  the  memory  of  a  recently  de- 
ceased magistrate  and  expressed  to  the  cantonal 
huissier  the  congratulations  and  thanks  of  the  peo- 
ple of  Nidwalden  on  the  occasion  of  the  fiftieth 
anniversary  of  his  appointment.  Passing  from 
praise  to  blame,  the  Landammann  protested 
against  the  abusive  reproaches  and  ceaseless  crit- 
icisms leveled  at  authority  during  such  difficult 
times — "criticisms  which  to-day  appear  to  have 
become  one  of  the  conditions  of  existence  for  ev- 
ery good  citizen."  This  rating  seems  to  have 
made  an  unfavorable  impression  on  the  Landsge- 
meinde.  When  the  time  came  to  choose  a  mem- 
ber of  the  government,  the  official  candidate, 
whose  election  was  considered  certain  and  who 
was  even  supported  by  one  of  the  opposition 
leaders,  was  rejected  in  favor  of  an  independent 
agriculturist  proposed  by  a  private  soldier  in  uni- 
form. Although  this  citizen  vigorously  declined 
to  stand,  he  was  elected  by  a  two-thirds  majority. 
The  budget  was  passed  without  dissent,  but  when 
a  popularly  initiated  proposal  relating  to  the  let- 
ting out  of  fishing  rights  was  reached,  the  govern- 


7o 

ment,  which  opposed  it,  was  beaten  ignominously. 
The  Landsgemeinde  dispersed  with  the  pleasant 
feeling  of  having  asserted  itself,  but  the  govern- 
ment was  most  unhappy. 

The  Landsgemeinde  of  the  other  half  of  Unter- 
walden,  that  of  Obwalden,  was  still  more  exciting. 
It  took  place  at  Sarnen,  and  attracted  over  1,500 
citizens.  A  lively  opposition  was  raised  to  a  pro- 
posal for  additional  taxation.  Demands  were 
made  for  a  financial  statement  on  more  modern 
principles,  and  the  government  was  reproached 
for  taking  no  steps  to  turn  the  hydraulic  resources 
of  the  district  to  profit.  The  first  vote  was  inde- 
cisive. The  huissiers  announced  an  equality  of 
votes  for  acceptance  and  rejection,  but  on  a  second 
trial,  four  huissiers  believed  there  was  a  small  ma- 
jority for  the  proposal,  while  three  others  de- 
clared it  rejected.  Whereupon,  the  president  pro- 
claimed the  law  adopted  amid  fierce  protests  by 
the  opposition,  which  demanded  a  count  of  votes 
one  by  one.  Now  the  law  permits  this  method  of 
verification  only  after  two  successive  votes  have 
been  declared  inconclusive.  Which  of  the  hus- 
siers  had  estimated  correctly?  It  is  impossible  to 
say,  but  the  dissatisfaction  of  the  opposition  was 
so  keen  that  a  meeting  of  protest  was  held  a  few 
days  later  at  Alpnach,  and  demanded  almost 
unanimously  the  abolition  of  the  ancient  institu- 


THE  LANDSGEMEINDE  71 

tion,  the  Landsgemeinde.  A  committee  of  fifteen 
members  was  elected  to  initiate  the  measure.  On 
the  23rd  February,  1919,  the  electors  of  Obwalden 
voted  by  secret  ballot  upon  the  proposal  initiated. 
The  Landsgemeinde  was  retained,  but  only  by  a 
majority  of  76  votes.  Apparently  it  would  suffice 
to  improve  the  methods  of  counting  votes  and  to 
declare  that  enumeration  shall  be  of  right  when- 
ever the  ocular  estimates  of  the  huissiers  are  in 
disagreement. 

The  Landsgemeinde  of  Appenzell-Ausser- 
rhoden,  at  Trogen,  numbered  at  least  n,ooo. 
Some  years  ago  it  was  afflicted  with  a  passion  for 
negation  which  made  it  the  despair  of  the  govern- 
ing authorities.  A  schoolboy,  whose  master  had 
given  him  an  essay  on  this  institution,  offered  as 
the  best  description:  "The  landsgemelnde  elects 
the  cantonal  huissier  and  rejects  laws."  But,  in 
1918,  the  Landsgemeinde  displayed  an  attitude  of 
obsequiousness  to  all  the  wishes  of  the  govern- 
ment. After  electing  the  members  of  the  govern- 
ment and  confirming  the  appointment  of  the  mem- 
ber of  the  Council  of  States  and  the  eleven  mem- 
bers of  the  superior  court,  it  accepted  all  the  pro- 
posals put  before  it,  including  a  law  providing  that 
during  the  next  thirteen  years  the  surplus  realized 
by  the  cantonal  insurance  department  should  be 
set  aside  for  a  scheme  of  insurance  against  old 


72        REAL  DEMOCRACY  IN  OPERATION 

age  and  disablement,  a  law  increasing  the  State 
contribution  for  the  payment  of  teachers,  and  an 
extraordinary  "war"  tax  of  two  francs  per  thou- 
sand upon  fortunes  exceeding  15,000  francs  or 
earned  incomes  exceeding  3,000  francs. 

At  Appenzell  the  small  Landsgemeinde  of 
Ausserrhoden  was  much  less  gracious  towards  its 
government,  two  members  of  which  were  not  re- 
elected — an  extremely  rare  occurrence.  They  had 
been  in  charge  of  the  cantonal  food  control  ad- 
ministration, a  department  set  up  during  the  war, 
whose  activities  brought  anything  but  popularity 
to  its  directors. 

The  Landsgemeinde  of  Glarus  met  on  the  5th 
May.  For  many  years  it  has  had  as  president  a 
very  influential  magistrate,  a  wealthy  and  eloquent 
manufacturer.  It  adopted  numerous  proposals, 
one  of  which  allocated  to  the  workmen's  unem- 
ployment insurance  department  the  portion  of  the 
federal  "war"  tax  repayable  to  the  canton.  An 
amendment  to  the  law  of  inheritance  steepened 
the  incidence  of  the  succession  duty.  The  price 
of  salt  was  raised  from  15  to  20  centimes  a  kilo- 
gram. War  bonuses  on  account  of  the  increased 
cost  of  living  were  granted  to  officials  and  em- 
ployees. An  amendment  to  the  law  dealing  with 
the  insurance  of  real  estate  and  a  proposal  for 
the  utilization  of  the  resources  of  water-power 


THE  LANDSGEMEINDE  73 

also  obtained  the  approval  of  the  sovereign  body. 
So,  too,  did  a  law  upon  cattle-breeding,  and  an- 
other for  the  establishment  of  a  winter  school 
of  agriculture,  etc.  And  the  Landsgemeinde  of 
Glarus  is  one  of  those  in  which  discussion  is  ak 
lowed!  Evidently  the  institution  still  works 
quite  efficiently,  especially — as  I  have  already 
stated — when  it  is  guided  by  a  skillful  and  influen- 
tial president. 

I  may  add  that  three  years  ago  the  canton  of 
Glarus  had  8,301  electors,  Uri  4,849,  Obwalden 
4,163,  Nidwalden  3,106,  Ausserrhoden  2,729, 
Innerrhoden  13,634.  The  number  of  citizens 
present  at  the  Landsgemeinde  never  reaches 
these  figures,  although  at  times  it  approaches  them 
very  closely. 


CHAPTER  IV 

THE    REFERENDUM 

"ADIEU,  cursed  country  of  the  referendum," 
the  Marquis  de  Puisieux,  French  ambassador  to 
the  Thirteen  Cantons,  is  said  to  have  exclaimed 
as  he  left  Switzerland  in  1708.  A  year  later  his 
successor,  the  Comte  du  Luc,  wrote  to  M.  de 
Chamillard,  Louis  XIV's  minister:  "The  mem- 
bers of  the  Diet  dispersed  after  interminable  dis- 
cussions. In  this  country  they  call  it  Referendum. 
I  have  never  seen  a  nation  so  incapable  of  know- 
ing its  own  mind.  It  needs  more  than  the  pa- 
tience of  a  Capuchin  to  follow  them,  and  I  am 
afraid  my  Provencal  temperament  was  not  made 
for  negotiations  with  such  people.  .  .  ."  It  was 
to  the  referendum  also  that  the  First  Consul  re- 
ferred in  1803  when  he  pointed  out  to  the  Swiss 
representatives  as  one  of  the  advantages  of  fed- 
1  eralism  the  facilities  which  the  members  of  the 
Diet  enjoyed  for  putting  off  foreign  powers  and 
gaining  time  when  confronted  with  their  demands 
by  referring  them  to  their  respective  cantons. 
This  was  the  referendum  employed  by  the  Diet  of 

74 


THE  REFERENDUM  75 

the  twenty-two  cantons  before  1848,  when  its 
members  made  decisions  "ad  referendum,"  sub- 
ject to  reference  to  their  canton  for  ratification. 
The  referendum  of  contemporary  Switzerland  is 
rather  different.  In  a  sense  it  is  connected  with 
the  expression  "referre  ad  populum"  which  the 
Romans  employed  when  they  consulted  the  people 
assembled  in  its  comitias  upon  laws  proposed  by 
the  Consul,  the  Praetor  or  the  Tribune.  The  pres- 
ent Swiss  referendum  consists  in  the  submission 
to  the  people  for  approval  or  rejection  of  a  law 
or  decision  voted  by  the  legislative  bodies.  We 
have  already  seen  it  at  work  in  the  sixteenth  cen- 
tury in  certain  Swiss  cantons,  and  again  when  the 
Constitution  of  1802  was  submitted  to  the  peo- 
ple. Its  importance  has  become  so  great  as  to 
warrant  consideration  at  some  length. 

The  introduction  of  the  referendum  in  Switzer- 
land constitutes  one  of  the  chief  victories  of  the 
principle  of  direct  government  by  the  people  over 
that  of  representative  government.  No  one  has 
defended  direct  government  with  more  power  and 
conviction  than  Victor  Considerant,  the  advanced 
republican  of  1848,  who  was  one  of  the  precursors 
of  legislation  by  the  people.  "When  a  people," 
he  wrote,  "has  once  assumed  the  exercise  of  its 
legislative  will,  no  section,  old  or  young,  rotten  or 
sound,  will  be  able  to  contemplate  encroachment 


76       REAL  DEMOCRACY  IN  OPERATION 

upon  it.  Divisions  will  be  blotted  out  and  parties 
united  one  with  another. 

"So  long,  however,  as  the  people,  like  an  inert 
mass,  is  moved  by  the  governmental  machine  ex- 
ternal to  itself,  which  each  party  can  use  to  im- 
pose its  will  upon  the  nation,  so  long  will  furious 
party  strife,  intrigues,  coups  d'Etat  and  revolu- 
tions remain  the  order  of  the  day.  .  .  . 

".  .  .  One  conceives  governments  contending 
with  one  another  for  a  government  external  to 
the  nation;  one  does  not  conceive  them  contend- 
ing in  a  nation  which  rules  itself. 

"When  the  political  pyramid  rests  on  the  na- 
tion, it  is  seated  squarely  on  its  base,  and  no  longer 
artificially  balanced  on  its  apex.  Stability  is  as- 
sured. 

"The  different  types  of  socialism,  that  is  the 
different  proposals  for  the  solution  of  the  social 
question,  are  thus  necessarily  reduced  to  the 
form  they  must  take,  the  form  of  ideas  develop- 
ing freely  within  the  nation  and  operating  through 
and  upon  the  collective  opinion.  Being  no  longer 
political  parties  competing  for  the  reins  of  power, 
they  become  schools  competing  for  the  free  con- 
quest of  intellects. 

"The  effective  realization  of  the  sovereignty 
of  the  people  constitutes  the  final  solution  of  the 


THE  REFERENDUM  77 

democratic  problem  and  opens  the  best  way  for 
the  solution  of  the  social  problem. 

"Hitherto,  democracy  has  been  sentient,  but  not 
yet  conscious." 

In  1850,  a  German  publicist,  Rittinghausen, 
contributed  to  La  Democratic  pacifique  articles 
upon  "direct  legislation  by  the  people  or  true 
democracy,"  in  which  the  same  ideas  were  devel- 
oped. 

Neither  Considerant  nor  Rittinghausen  was  a 
prophet  in  his  own  country. 

In  Switzerland  the  referendum  has  scored  a 
definitive  success,  but  in  other  countries,  notably 
in  France,  objections  which  in  appearance  are 
very  serious  are  still  raised  against  this  demo- 
cratic institution.  In  his  Elements  de  drolt  con- 
stitutionnel  francais,  a  professor  whose  word  car- 
ries weight,  M.  Esmein,  writes  that  the  referen- 
dum labors  under  most  serious  disadvantages 
both  in  theory  and  in  practice.  It  is  vicious  in 
theory,  he  says,  in  that  the  great  majority  of  citi- 
zens is  incapable  of  forming  a  sound  opinion  upon 
the  laws  or  bills  submitted  to  them,  owing  to  their 
lack  of  education  for  understanding  them  and  of 
leisure  for  studying  them.  Either  the  majority 
will  vote  blindly  for  a  proposal  which  it  does  not 
understand,  or  a  proposal,  perhaps  excellent  in 
itself,  will  be  rejected  on  account  of  some  pos- 


78       REAL  DEMOCRACY  IN  OPERATION 

sibly  secondary  provision,  which  may  have  pro- 
voked one  of  those  popular  prejudices  which  are 
so  easy  to  arouse  and  so  difficult  to  destroy.  In 
practice  the  system  is  equally  vicious.  It  diverts 
all  serious  discussion  into  a  multitude  of  assem- 
blies which  have  to  give  the  final  decision  upon  a 
bill,  and  the  press  is  altogether  inadequate  for  in- 
structing the  people  upon  such  issues.  The  sys- 
tem, again,  is  defective  in  that  an  entire  bill  is 
submitted  to  the  people  as  a  single  whole  which  it 
must  either  accept  in  spite  of  any  provision  of 
which  it  disapproves  or  reject  on  account  of  such 
provision.  Direct  government  results  in  the  ob- 
struction of  rational  reforms  and  general  legis- 
lative stagnation.  If,  in  Switzerland,  it  has  not 
caused  very  much  harm,  it  has  prevented  much 
good  from  being  done.  It  discredits  representa- 
tive government  without  suppressing  it,  and  weak- 
ens the  prestige,  the  power  for  good  and  the  feel- 
ing of  responsibility  in  the  elected  assemblies.  M. 
Esmein  recognizes,  however,  that  the  idea  of  the 
referendum  is  gaining  ground  and  that  the  expres- 
sion of  the  will  of  the  people  by  the  certain  and 
incontestable  method  of  the  popular  vote  may 
be  considered  by  many  citizens  as  the  only  safe 
barrier  against  the  rising  flood  of  Socialist  pre- 
tensions. 

M.    Esmein's    objections    are   not    wholly   un- 


THE  REFERENDUM  79 

founded,  but  some  of  them,  as  we  shall  see  later, 
are  not  substantiated  by  an  examination  of  the  re- 
sults of  the  referendum,  and  the  advantages  de- 
rived from  the  adoption  of  this  democratic  institu- 
tion far  outweigh  the  disadvantages.  As  M. 
Numa  Droz,  a  former  President  of  the  Swiss 
Confederation,  aptly  said  in  a  monograph  on  the 
referendum,  the  objections  raised  against  this 
method  of  consulting  the  people  merely  prove 
that  perfection  is  not  of  this  world.  A  people 
which  is  conscious  of  its  own  worth,  and  has  the 
habit  of  freedom,  wrote  M.  Droz,  must  desire  to 
determine  its  own  destiny  more  and  more  com- 
pletely. Its  representatives  must  resign  them- 
selves to  the  position  of  mere  councilors.  Democ- 
racy tends  increasingly  to  entrust  the  power  of 
legislation  to  the  whole  of  the  people  and  to  leave 
to  parliaments  no  more  than  the  preparation  of 
laws.  The  people  makes  mistakes  much  less  often 
than  is  generally  supposed.  Many  laws  or  de- 
crees in  Switzerland  have  been  rejected  because 
the  members  of  the  Chambers  had  not  taken  suffi- 
cient trouble  to  enlighten  the  people,  and  more 
than  one  negative  verdict,  deplored  at  the  mo- 
ment when  pronounced,  has  turned  out  eventually 
to  be  a  fortunate  occurrence.  In  the  long  run, 
all  parliamentary  majorities  end  in  a  greater  or 
less  measure  of  disagreement  with  the  people 


8o       REAL  DEMOCRACY  IN  OPERATION 

(which  confirms  Rousseau's  theory).  The  refer- 
endum sets  a  limit  to  the  tension  thus  produced  by 
clearing  the  political  atmosphere  of  this  electrical 
disturbance. 

There  is  no  better  safeguard  against  revolution 
than  the  referendum.  Revolutions  have  ceased  in 
Switzerland  since  this  democratic  institution  has 
come  into  general  use.  While  a  minority  can 
often  pretend  that  the  decision  of  a  parliamentary 
majority  does  not  express  the  will  of  the  people, 
the  verdict  of  the  referendum  is  definitive,  at  least 
for  a  time.  If  rejected,  proposals  may  be  re- 
drafted by  parliament,  adapted  to  circumstances 
and  brought  into  closer  agreement  with  the  pub- 
lic opinion  of  the  moment.  Premature  legislation 
is  thus  avoided,  together  with  the  resistance  which 
its  enforcement  would  arouse.  Far  from  dimin- 
ishing the  importance  of  parliamentary  labors, 
the  referendum  obliges  members  to  prepare  laws 
and  decrees  with  the  greatest  possible  care,  and 
by  imposing  upon  them  the  duty  of  justifying  their 
work  to  the  people,  it  helps  to  make  them  public 
men  in  the  widest  sense  of  the  term;  it  adds  to, 
rather  than  detracts  from,  the  ^importance  of  their 
function. 

If  the  referendum  hinders  the  over-luxurious 
growth  of  legislation,  it  is  not  altogether  an  evil. 
Herault  de  Seychelles  pointed  this  out  when  speak- 


THE  REFERENDUM  81 

ing  in  the  National  Convention  of  this  mania  for 
legislation  which  brings  the  law  into  disrepute,  and 
said  that  it  was  better  to  wait  and  pass  one  good 
law  than  to  take  the  risk  of  a  multiplicity  of  bad 
ones.  Finally,  the  referendum  contributes  to  the 
education  of  the  people,  not  by  enabling  it  to  un- 
derstand all  the  details  of  a  law,  but  by  compelling 
it  to  take  an  interest  in  it  and  to  seek  to  grasp  its 
import. 

The  machinery  of  the  referendum  in  Switzer- 
land is  not  complicated,  but  differs  according  as 
the  referendum  is  compulsory  or  optional.  In  the 
case  of  the  compulsory  referendum,  a  vote  of  the 
people  is  required  by  law.  Once  or  twice  a  year, 
sometimes  more,  the  people  are  called  upon  to 
vote  by  secret  ballot  in  their  communes  upon  the 
proposals  adopted  in  the  interval  by  the  Great 
Council  or  by  the  cantonal  council.  With  the 
optional  referendum,  certain  preliminary  formali- 
ties are  necessary.  Within  a  period  of  from  one 
to  twelve  months,  citizens  who  desire  the  rejec- 
tion of  a  law  must  collect  the  number  of  signa- 
tures required  by  law,  which  varies  in  the  different 
cantons.  For  laws  and  decrees,  the  Federal  legis- 
lature has  fixed  the  number  at  30,000,  a  figure 
which  is  easily  mustered.  There  is  no  political 
party  of  any  importance  in  Switzerland  which  can- 
not reach  it.  Moreover,  referendum  committees 


82       REAL  DEMOCRACY  IN  OPERATION 

usually  adopt  the  tactics  of  asserting  that  it  is  a 
question  not  of  offering  decided  opposition  to  a 
proposal,  but  simply  of  obtaining  an  opportunity 
for  the  people  to  be  consulted  and  a  thorough  ex- 
amination of  the  proposal  to  be  made.  In  this 
way  they  obtain  the  signatures  of  a  certain  num- 
ber of  electors  who  have  formed  no  fixed  opinion 
upon  the  matter  in  question.  This  declaration, 
however,  is  hardly  sincere.  In  fact,  from  the  mo- 
ment a  committee  is  formed  to  demand  a  referen- 
dum upon  a  law,  it  may  be  taken  for  granted  that 
it  will  oppose  it  tooth  and  nail  when  the  time  for 
the  people  to  vote  draws  near.  When  the  legal 
number  of  signatures  has  been  collected  and  these 
signatures,  which  must  be  legalized  by  the  com- 
munal authority  have  been  verified,  the  federal  or 
cantonal  authority  fixes  the  date  of  the  vote,  gen- 
erally with  a  sufficient  interval  to  allow  the  sup- 
porters and  opponents  of  the  contested  proposal 
to  place  their  arguments  before  the  people. 

Mention  is  often  made  of  the  financial  refer- 
endum, which  applies  to  proposals  for  taxation, 
loans,  heavy  extraordinary  expenditure,  etc.  But 
this  referendum  is  only  a  variety  of  the  two 
others.  It  is  compulsory  or  optional  according 
to  the  cantons. 

The  Confederation  possesses  neither  the  com- 
pulsory referendum  (except  upon  amendments  to 


THE  REFERENDUM  83 

the  Constitution)  nor  the  financial  referendum, 
and  even  its  optional  referendum  is  subject  to 
rather  important  restrictions.  Article  89  of  the 
federal  Constitution  lays  down  that  "federal  laws 
are  submitted  to  the  people  for  adoption  or  re- 
jection if  a  demand  to  that  effect  is  made  by  30,- 
ooo  electors  or  by  eight  cantons,  and  the  same 
applies  to  federal  decrees  which  are  of  a  general 
application  and  not  urgent  in  character."  Thus 
any  federal  law  containing  provisions  of  a  general 
and  permanent  kind  necessarily  conies  within  the 
sphere  of  the  optional  referendum,  while  on  the 
other  hand  decrees,  which  are  usually  of  an  ad- 
ministrative nature  and  more  or  less  limited  in 
point  of  time,  can  be  submitted  to  a  vote  of  the 
people  solely  if  they  are  general  in  their  scope 
(German:  allgemein  verbindlich)  and  not  urgent. 
These  two  expressions  are  highly  elastic,  and  the 
federal  Assembly  has  interpreted  them  more  than 
once  in  a  sense  which  the  opposition  disapproved. 
Thus,  all  military  credits  and  all  subsidies  voted 
by  the  Chambers  for  river  improvements,  etc., 
escape  the  popular  vote  and  the  risks  which  would 
accompany  it  in  a  country  where  it  is  not  always 
easy  to  harmonize  the  interests  of  different  re- 
gions. 

There  can  be  no  doubt  that  the  compulsory 
referendum  realizes  the  principle  of  direct  legis- 


84       REAL  DEMOCRACY  IN  OPERATION 

lation  by  the  people  better  than  the  optional  refer- 
endum. The  compulsory  referendum  necessitates 
the  constant  cooperation  of  the  people  in  the  proc- 
ess of  legislation.  No  law  can  come  into  opera- 
tion unless  the  whole  body  of  electors  has  sanc- 
tioned it.  The  optional  referendum  approximates 
rather  to  the  ancient  veto.  The  approval  of  the 
people  is  assumed  each  time  it  does  not  make  use 
of  this  right.  As  the  optional  referendum  in- 
volves some  considerable  effort,  and  expenditure 
by  those  who  set  it  in  motion,  it  is  not  to  be  won- 
dered at  that  in  normal  times  it  operates  in  com- 
paratively few  cases.  Opposition  to  a  proposal 
has  to  be  strong  for  a  referendum  to  be  demand- 
ed. In  the  optional  form,  the  vote  of  the  people 
no  longer  takes  the  shape  of  a  regular  yearly  con- 
sultation; often  it  is  a  manifestation  of  keen  op- 
position, directed  not  merely  against  the  proposal, 
but  in  some  cases  against  the  policy  and  tendencies 
of  the  Chambers  and  governments  from  which  it 
emanates.  It  serves  then  as  a  safety-valve  by  pro- 
viding a  means  of  summary  judgment  upon  the 
general  policy  of  parliament. 

In  the  Confederation,  the  introduction  of  the 
compulsory  referendum  would  run  up  against  a 
special  difficulty.  It  exists  there  upon  constitu- 
tional revisions,  both  total  and  partial,  but  in  such 
cases  no  new  provision  can  come  into  operation 


THE  REFERENDUM  85 

unless  it  obtains  a  majority  of  the  cantons  as  well 
as  of  the  people.  The  federative  principle  is  safe- 
guarded in  this  way.  The  federal  referendum 
upon  laws  requires  only  a  majority  of  the  elec- 
tors taking  part  in  the  vote,  and  as,  on  the  whole, 
little  use  is  made  of  it,  the  disadvantages  of 
this  encroachment  on  federalism  are  not  very 
great.  The  majority  of  laws  and  decrees  take  ef- 
fect without  its  intervention  after  passing  both 
Chambers,  one  representing  the  people  and  the 
other  the  cantons.  The  situation  would  be  very 
different  if  it  were  compulsory  for  all  laws  to  be 
submitted  to  the  people.  The  elimination  of  one 
of  the  two  elements  which  go  to  the  formation  of 
a  federative  State  would  be  a  tender  point.  On 
the  other  hand,  it  would  be  dangerous  to  require 
for  every  law  and  decree  a  majority  of  the  people 
and  of  the  cantons.  There  would  be  a  risk  of  fre- 
quent conflicts  between  the  two  majorities,  and 
the  crisis  would  probably  be  ended  only  with  the 
defeat  of  cantonal  sovereignty.  There  are  rea- 
sons, then,  for  the  belief  that  the  federal  refer- 
endum will  retain  its  optional  character  for  some 
time  to  come. 

In  the  cantons,  the  compulsory  referendum  is 
the  rule.  In  fact,  it  is  in  operation  in  the  six 
cantons  and  demi-cantons  which  possess  a  Lands- 
gemeinde  and  has  penetrated  into  the  cantons  and 


86       REAL  DEMOCRACY  IN  OPERATION 

demi-cantons  of  Aargau,  Basel-Land,  Bern,  Gri- 
sons,  Schaffhausen,  Solothurn,  Thurgau,  Valais, 
and  Zurich.  The  optional  referendum  prevails  in 
Basel-Stadt,  Geneva,  Lucerne,  Neuchatel,  St. 
Gall,  Ticino,  and  Zug.  Schwyz  has  the  compul- 
sory referendum  only  for  laws  and  financial 
decrees.  Vaud  has  the  optional  referendum  and 
a  limited  financial  referendum  of  a  compulsory 
character.  Fribourg  is  the  only  canton  which  still 
possesses  neither  form  of  legislative  referendum. 
It  will  be  seen  from  this  enumeration  that  the  com- 
pulsory referendum  prevails  in  German  Switzer- 
land and  the  optional  referendum  in  French  and 
Italian  Switzerland. 

For  constitutional  changes,  the  referendum  is 
compulsory  in  all  cantons.  Article  6  of  the  Fed- 
eral Constitution  requires  as  a  condition  of  the 
ratification  of  the  cantonal  Constitutions  by  the 
Confederation  that  they  shall  be  revised  when  an 
absolute  majority  of  citizens  demands  it. 

As  I  have  already  done  in  the  case  of  the  can- 
tons where  pure  democracy  prevails,  I  shall  now 
give  some  of  the  provisions  of  the  cantonal  Con- 
stitutions, confining  myself,  however,  to  those 
which  relate  to  the  referendum.  I  shall  begin 
with  the  compulsory  referendum. 

The  Constitution  of  Zurich  states  in  its  first 
article  that  sovereignty  resides  in  the  people  as  a 


THE  REFERENDUM  87 

whole  and  is  exercised  directly  by  duly  qualified 
electors  and  indirectly  by  authorities  and  officials. 
Article  18  adds  that  the  people  exercises  its  legis- 
lative functions  in  conjunction  with  the  Cantonal 
Council.  Twice  a  year,  in  spring  and  autumn, 
the  people  is  required  to  vote  upon  the  legislative 
acts  of  the  Cantonal  Council.  In  urgent  cases, 
a  supplementary  vote  may  be  taken.  The  follow- 
ing must  be  submitted  to  the  vote  of  the  people: 
all  amendments  to  the  Constitution;  laws;  agree- 
ments with  other  cantons ;  decrees  of  the  Cantonal 
Council  which  the  latter  has  no  power  to  adopt 
finally;  decisions  which  the  Cantonal  Council  vol- 
untarily lays  before  the  people. 

At  the  time  of  the  submission  of  a  proposal 
to  the  people,  the  Cantonal  Council  has  the  power 
to  order  a  separate  vote  upon  certain  points  of 
the  proposal,  which  enables  the  people  to  reject 
any  provision  to  which  particular  exception  is 
taken  while  accepting  the  rest 

Voting  in  the  referendum  takes  place  by  secret 
ballot  in  the  communes.  Participation  in  the  vote 
is  declared  a  civic  duty.  All  proposals  coming 
before  the  people  must  be  announced  and  com- 
municated to  the  electors  at  least  thirty  days  be- 
fore the  ballot. 

The  Cantonal  Council  has  the  final  passing  of 
measures  involving  new  expenditure  not  exceeding 


88       REAL  DEMOCRACY  IN  OPERATION 

250,000  francs  in  one  sum  or  20,000  francs  a 
year.  Proposals  involving  greater  expenditure 
must  be  submitted  to  the  people. 

The  arrangements  of  other  cantons  for  the 
compulsory  referendum  differ  little  from  those  of 
Zurich.  The  amount  of  new  or  extraordinary  ex- 
penditure beyond  which  the  referendum  applies 
varies  usually  with  the  population  of  the  canton. 
Solothurn  and  Grisons  have  adopted  the  figure  of 
100,000  francs,  while  Bern  and  Vaud  have  raised 
the  financial  competence  of  the  Great  Council  to 
500,000  francs.  One  Constitution  only  allows 
laws  proper  to  be  dealt  with  by  the  compulsory 
legislative  referendum;  another  applies  it  to  a  part 
of  the  decrees  and  orders  of  the  administration. 
Here  loans  exceeding  a  certain  amount  are  neces- 
sarily laid  before  the  people.  Elsewhere,  it  is  a 
direct  tax  which  has  to  be  submitted  to  a  popular 
vote  when  it  rises  above  the  rate  fixed  by  the 
Constitution.  This  applies  at  Bern  to  any  in- 
crease above  twice  the  standard  rate.  Valais,  the 
only  French-speaking  canton  which  has  the  com- 
pulsory legislative  referendum,  insists  on  a  vote  of 
the  people  upon  any  extraordinary  expenditure 
exceeding  60,000  francs,  when  this  expenditure 
cannot  be  met  out  of  the  ordinary  receipts  of  the 
budget,  and  also  upon  any  increase  in  the  tax  upon 
property.  In  Schaffhausen,  the  Great  Council  is 


THE  REFERENDUM  89 

empowered  to  consult  the  people  in  advance  upon 
the  introduction  of  certain  principles  into  extra- 
ordinary decrees.  Each  time  there  is  a  popular 
vote,  electors  receive  at  the  same  time  as  the  pro- 
posals upon  which  they  are  to  vote,  a  message 
from  the  government  instructing  them  upon  the 
meaning  and  significance  of  the  principal  points 
contained  in  these  proposals.  One  might  instance 
also  some  variations  in  the  length  of  time  elapsing 
between  discussion  in  the  Great  Councils  and  vot- 
ing by  the  people. 

The  provisions  for  the  optional  referendum 
vary  in  regard  to  the  number  of  signatures  neces- 
sary to  obtain  the  referendum  and  details  concern- 
ing the  collection  and  verification  of  signatures 
and  the  date  of  the  voting.  The  Constitution  of 
Lucerne  prescribes  a  popular  vote  upon  legislative 
proposals,  agreements  with  other  cantons,  and 
financial  decrees  involving  an  extraordinary  ex- 
penditure of  200,000  francs  or  a  fresh  annual 
expenditure  of  20,000  francs  or  more,  if  within 
forty  days  from  the  publication  of  the  law  or  de- 
cree, 4,000  citizens  demand  a  referendum.  The 
Great  Council  also  has  the  power  to  order  a  popu- 
lar vote  on  its  own  initiative.  In  the  little  canton 
of  Zug,  500  signatures  or  one-third  of  the  mem- 
bers of  the  Cantonal  Council  are  sufficient,  and  the 
expenditure  must  be  at  least  40,000  francs  in  one 


90      REAL  DEMOCRACY  IN  OPERATION 

sum  or  5,000  francs  annually.  In  Basel-Stadt 
both  laws  and  also  final  decrees  of  the  Great 
Council  which  are  not  of  a  personal  or  urgent 
nature  must  be  submitted  to  the  body  of  citizens 
if  the  demand  is  supported  by  1,000  signatures 
or  if  the  Great  Council  so  decides.  The  interval 
within  which  a  referendum  may  be  sought  is  six 
weeks.  In  St.  Gall,  all  the  laws  as  well  as  the 
decrees  of  the  Great  Council  which  are  of  general 
application  and  not  urgent  or  which  are  not  wholly 
within  the  competence  of  the  Great  Council,  are 
to  be  voted  upon  by  the  people  upon  the  demand 
either  of  4,000  citizens  within  a  period  of  thirty 
days  or  of  one-third  at  least  of  the  members  of 
the  Great  Council.  The  latter  may  also  consult 
the  people  as  a  preliminary  to  the  embodiment  of 
certain  principles  in  a  law.  In  Sicino,  the  oppo- 
sition has  to  collect  5,000  signatures  within  an 
interval  of  one  month.  Urgency  cannot  be  in- 
voked in  the  case  of  any  extraordinary  expendi- 
ture of  more  than  200,000  francs. 

In  the  canton  of  Neuchatel,  the  number  of  sig- 
natures required  is  3,000.  Urgent  decrees  are 
not  subject  to  the  referendum,  but  the  Great  Coun- 
cil can  only  affirm  urgency  by  a  two-thirds  ma- 
jority. In  Geneva,  2,500  signatures  must  be  ob- 
tained within  an  interval  of  thirty  days.  The  Con- 
stitution states  expressly  that  the  optional  refer- 


THE  REFERENDUM  91 

endum  cannot  be  applied  to  the  budget  as  a 
whole,  but  only  to  particular  proposals  for  the 
imposition  of  new  taxes  or  the  increase  of  existing 
taxes  and  to  proposals  involving  the  issue  of  bonds 
or  any  form  of  loan.  In  the  canton  of  Vaud, 
by  Article  27  of  the  Constitution,  every  law  and 
decree  passed  by  the  Great  Council  must,  without 
exception,  be  submitted  to  a  referendum  if  de- 
manded by  6,000  citizens.  The  referendum  is 
compulsory  for  any  law  or  decree  involving  an 
extraordinary  expenditure  of  500,000  francs  or 
more. 


CHAPTER  V 

THE  RESULTS  OF  THE  REFERENDUM 

IF  we  leave  the  formulae  of  Constitutions  and 
examine  the  practical  results  of  the  referendum 
in  the  Confederation  and  the  cantons,  we  shall 
make  statements  which  will  astonish  those  who 
have  not  seen  at  close  quarters  how  the  institu- 
tion works.  It  might  be  expected  that  the  refer- 
endum would  make  for  a  pitiless  slaughter  of  the 
laws  which  were  subjected  to  it;  but  this  would 
be  a  mistake.  Although  the  people  knows  how 
to  say  no,  although  on  more  than  one  occasion 
it  has  chagrined  Swiss  legislators,  it  also  knows 
how  to  say  yes,  and  the  number  of  laws  and  de- 
crees which  have  fallen  victims  to  the  referendum 
is  far  smaller  than  the  number  of  legislative  pro- 
posals to  which  the  electoral  body  has  given  its 
approval. 

The  Constitution  which  governs  the  Swiss  Con- 
federation came  into  operation  in  1874.  Of  the 
twenty  amendments  to  the  Constitution  which 
have  been  compulsorily  laid  before  the  people 
since  that  date — I  refer  here  only  to  those  origi- 

92 


THE  RESULTS  OF  THE  REFERENDUM      93 

nated  by  the  Federal  Council  or  the  Chambers — 
sixteen  have  been  accepted.  Only  four  have  been 
rejected,  and  one  of  these  was  for  the  establish- 
ment of  a  federal  monopoly  of  the  manufacture 
of  matches.  The  opponents  of  this  proposal 
fought  it  on  the  ground  that  it  was  a  useless 
monopoly  instituted  for  the  purchasing  of  fac- 
tories, the  owners  of  which  were  said  to  be  un- 
able to  afford  adaptations  essential  to  the  interests 
of  the  workers'  health.  The  Swiss  people  upheld 
their  contention  on  the  29th  September,  1895, 
by  184,109  votes  to  140,174.  The  proposal  was 
rejected  by  fourteen  cantons  and  three  demi-can- 
tons,  and  accepted  by  no  more  than  five  cantons 
and  three  demi-cantons.  Since  then,  this  dan- 
gerous industry  has  been  strictly  regulated  for  the 
protection  of  the  health  of  the  workpeople,  and 
nowadays  no  one  would  dream  of  reviving  the 
proposal  to  make  it  a  monopoly. 

In  1894,  by  a  small  majority,  an  amendment 
to  the  Constitution  was  rejected  which  empowered 
the  Confederation  to  pass  laws  dealing  with  fac- 
tory and  workshop  conditions.  The  idea  was 
taken  up  again  fourteen  years  later  and  carried 
into  effect. 

Another  rejected  proposal  sought  to  complete 
the  partial  centralization  of  military  affairs  insti- 
tuted by  the  Constitution  of  1874  and  to  deprive 


94       REAL  DEMOCRACY  IN  OPERATION 

the  cantons  of  the  power  which  had  been  left  to 
them.  The  majority  of  federalists  took  alarm 
and  found  support  among  those  to  whom  a  fed- 
eral military  organization  was  not  a  pleasing  pros- 
pect. On  the  3rd  November,  1895,  by  269,751 
votes  to  195,178,  by  fifteen  cantons  and  five  demi- 
cantons  to  four  cantons  and  one  demi-canton,  the 
Swiss  people  threw  out  the  proposal.  Undoubt- 
edly the  dualism  which  reigns  in  the  military  ad- 
ministration has  its  disadvantages;  nevertheless 
it  can  hardly  be  said  that  this  vote  has  been  a 
misfortune  for  the  country  and  a  cause  of  weak- 
ness in  its  military  institutions. 

A  fourth  proposal,  amending  article  64  of  the 
Constitution  so  as  to  allow  the  Confederation  to 
pass  laws  dealing  with  patents  and  the  protection 
of  industrial  designs  and  models,  was  rejected  in 
1882.  It  met  with  this  fate  owing  to  its  asso- 
ciation with  an  extremely  unpopular  proposal  upon 
which  the  people  voted  at  the  same  time  and  to 
the  fact  that  the  body  of  electors  had  been  inade- 
quately informed  of  the  need  for  such  an  exten- 
sion of  federal  powers.  Some  years  later,  a  sim- 
ilar proposal  was  submitted  to  the  people  under 
more  propitious  conditions  and  adopted  by  a  large 
majority.  A  majority  of  15,042  votes  for  rejec- 
tion was  converted  into  a  majority  of  145,644 
votes  for  acceptance. 


THE  RESULTS  OF  THE  REFERENDUM      95 

All  other  constitutional  amendments  presented 
by  the  Chambers  have  been  accepted.  This  was 
the  case  with  a  proposal  restoring  to  the  cantons 
the  right  of  legislating  upon  the  death  penalty  in 
1879,  and  with  the  amendment  of  the  article 
dealing  with  the  liquor  traffic  in  1885.  Again, 
on  the  26th  October,  1890,  the  principle  of  insur- 
ance against  sickness  and  accidents  was  introduced 
into  the  Constitution.  Then  followed  in  succes- 
sion in  1891  the  application  of  the  popular  initia- 
tive to  constitutional  amendments;  in  1891  the 
federal  monopoly  of  bank  notes;  in  1897  the  ex- 
tension of  federal  forestry  rights  and  the  confer- 
ment upon  the  Confederation  of  legislative  powers 
in  connection  with  the  adulteration  of  foods;  in 
1898  the  unification  of  the  civil  and  criminal  law; 
in  1902  the  principle  of  federal  subsidies  to  the 
cantons  for  elementary  education;  in  1905  the  ex- 
tension of  protection  for  inventions;  in  1908  the 
conferment  upon  the  Confederation  to  pass  laws 
dealing  with  water-power  and  with  factories  and 
workshops;  in  1913  the  extension  of  federal  con- 
trol of  hygiene  and  sanitation;  in  1914  the  insti- 
tution of  the  federal  administrative  and  discip- 
linary court;  in  1915  the  first  "war"  tax. 

These  results  justify  the  assertion  that  in  the 
matter  of  constitutional  amendments  there  can 
be  no  question  of  obstruction.  The  tendency  has 


96      REAL  DEMOCRACY  IN  OPERATION 

been  to  accept,  far  more  than  to  reject,  and  when 
the  people  has  said  no,  its  decision  has  been  justi- 
fied. A  curious  case  was  that  of  the  "war"  tax, 
decided  in  1915.  As  the  repeated  and  prolonged 
mobilization  of  troops  for  the  protection  of  the 
frontiers  and  the  behavior  of  certain  officers  had 
aroused  some  considerable  discontent,  it  was 
feared  at  Bern  that  the  people  might  be  tempted 
to  a  political  demonstation,  and  that  the  referen- 
dum would  be  not  so  much  an  objective  vote  as  an 
indication  of  the  ill  humor  of  the  electoral  body 
when  confronted  by  a  tax  intended  in  part  to  meet 
the  expenses  of  mobilization.  There  were  even 
a  considerable  number  who  demanded  that  it 
should  not  be  submitted  to  the  people,  but  put  into 
operation  in  virtue  of  the  plenary  powers  con- 
ferred upon  the  Federal  Council  by  the  Federal 
Assembly  in  1914  and  under  the  plea  of  urgent 
necessity.  Nevertheless,  the  Federal  Assembly 
proceeded  according  to  regular  constitutional 
methods,  and  had  no  cause  for  regret.  The  vote 
was  a  startling  justification  of  those  who  had 
placed  confidence  in  the  good  sense  of  the  people. 
The  "war"  tax  was  passed  by  a  majority  unpar- 
alleled in  the  history  of  the  referendum — 436,898 
in  favor,  26,651  against.  All  the  cantons  ac- 
cepted it.  It  must  be  said  that  the  matter  in  ques- 
tion of  a  steeply  graduated  tax  on  wealth  and 


THE  RESULTS  OF  THE  REFERENDUM      97 

profits,  which  affected  only  a  minority,  but  it  was 
established  that  the  great  majority  of  those  af- 
fected by  it  had  voted  in  its  favor. 

It  is  also  to  be  remarked  in  connection  with 
these  constitutional  amendments  that  in  no  case 
was  there  any  divergence  between  the  majority  of 
the  people  and  that  of  the  cantons.  Whatever 
the  one  did,  the  other  did  likewise. 

The  legislative  referendum  presents  a  still  more 
varied  and  interesting  picture  than  the  constitu- 
tional referendum.  As  I  have  said,  in  the  case  of 
the  former  a  majority  of  electors  only  is  required 
for  the  passing  of  a  law.  I  have  before  me  a 
table  showing  the  figures  relating  to  31  laws  or 
decrees  upon  the  Swiss  people  has  had  to  vote 
from  1874  to  1917.  Of  these,  12  were  accepted 
and  19  rejected.  The  proportion  seems  unfav- 
orable, but  it  is  not  so  in  reality  because  to  the  laws 
or  decrees  accepted  by  popular  vote  must  be  added 
the  proposals  infinitely  more  numerous  upon  which 
the  referendum  was  not  demanded  and  which  took 
effect  with  the  tacit  consent  of  the  people.  Here 
again  there  is  no  question  of  obstruction  in  gen- 
eral, although  in  one  or  two  instances  the  ob- 
structionist tendency  played  some  part. 

Snail  I  weary  my  readers  if  we  make  together 
a  little  tour  of  the  legislative  cemetery  where  lie 
the  remains  of  some  laws  over  which  their  dis- 


98       REAL  DEMOCRACY  IN  OPERATION 

appointed  authors  formerly  shed  tears?  We  find 
there  a  law  upon  the  right  of  Swiss  citizens  to 
the  vote  and  another  upon  the  political  rights  of 
the  same  citizens,  victims  alike  of  the  difficulty 
experienced  in  Switzerland  in  bringing  into  agree- 
ment the  very  varied  qualifications  for  the  fran- 
chise which  prevail  in  the  different  cantons.  Near 
by  rest  two  laws  instituting  a  tax  upon  citizens 
exempted  from  military  service.  At  his  third 
attempt,  the  legislator  triumphed  over  the 
opposition.  Rarely  has  a  law  suffered  such  dis- 
aster as  that  upon  epidemics  in  1882.  It  insti- 
tuted compulsory  vaccination,  to  which  certain 
cantons  would  not  listen,  and  imposed,  in  the  in- 
terests of  public  hygiene,  restrictions  upon  indi- 
vidual liberty  which  appeared  excessive.  Event- 
ually a  more  moderate  proposal  met  with  practi- 
cally no  opposition. 

The  26th  November,  1882,  is  a  red-letter  day 
in  the  annals  of  the  federal  referendum.  By  a  ma- 
jority of  146,129  votes,  the  Swiss  people  rejected 
a  decree  for  the  appointment  of  an  official  whose 
duty  should  be  to  make  a  general  inquiry  into  the 
conditions  of  Swiss  elementary  education,  espe- 
cially from  the  point  of  view  of  the  principle  of 
secularization.  But  the  legislator  had  commit- 
ted a  great  blunder.  He  had  given  to  this  inquiry 


THE  RESULTS  OF  THE  REFERENDUM      99 

the  unpopular  form  of  a  decree  appointing  a 
new  official,  and  an  indiscretion  had  brought  to 
light  the  intention  of  the  Federal  Councilor  in 
charge  of  the  home  department  to  bring  for- 
ward a  series  of  measures  of  a  centralizing  char- 
acter. The  Catholic-Conservative  party  preached 
a  holy  war,  the  French-speaking  federalists  took 
fright,  and  the  "bailli  scolaire" — as  the  opposi- 
tion dubbed  him — succumbed  after  a  heated 
struggle. 

Encouraged  by  this  success,  the  opposition  de- 
manded a  referendum  upon  four  proposals  in 
1884.  The  first  of  these  proposals  was  for  the 
reorganization  of  the  federal  department  of  Jus- 
tice and  Police;  the  second  for  the  settlement  of 
the  question  of  commercial  travelers'  licenses; 
the  third  for  an  increase  in  the  salary  of  the  Swiss 
minister  at  Washington ;  and  the  fourth,  the  only 
one  of  any  political  importance,  was  an  addition 
to  the  federal  penal  code.  This  fourfold  de- 
mand for  a  referendum,  which  the  Press  had 
termed  "the  federal  quadruped,"  resulted  in  the 
rejection  of  the  four  proposals  by  a  fairly  nar- 
row majority.  This  was  one  of  the  rare  cases 
which  illustrates  very  well  the  use  of  the  refer- 
endum as  an  instrument  of  obstruction,  but  the 
success  was  not  repeated.  When,  in  1887,  in  the 
interests  of  the  revenue  and  of  public  health,  the 


ioo     REAL  DEMOCRACY  IN  OPERATION 

Federal  Chambers  passed  a  bill  which  permitted 
the  taxation  of  alcoholic  liquors  and  must  have 
led  ultimately  to  a  federal  excise  duty,  a  majority 
of  128,626  votes  confirmed  their  action,  and  when 
in  1889  an  important  bill  for  the  unification  of  the 
law  for  the  recovery  of  debts  was  brought  before 
the  people,  all  the  efforts  of  the  Catholic-Con- 
servative opposition  supported  by  the  opponents 
of  certain  innovations  in  the  measure,  did  not  pre- 
vent its  obtaining  a  majority  of  26,396  votes. 

A  law  dealing  with  the  pensions  of  federal 
officials  and  employees  retiring  through  old  age 
or  ill  health  was  defeated  in  1891  by  an  over- 
whelming majority,  which  left  no  doubt  of  the 
people's  repugnance  for  pensions  limited  to  cer- 
tain classes  of  citizens;  but  the  originators  of  the 
proposal  had  again  made  the  mistake  of  provid- 
ing for  no  contributions  by  the  beneficiaries.  A 
law  for  the  purchase  of  the  railway  system  of  Cen- 
tral Switzerland  was  rejected  in  1891  by  a  ma- 
jority of  158,677  votes.  The  Swiss  people  was 
not  enamored  of  a  scheme  of  partial  nationaliza- 
tion which  did  not  appear  an  advantageous  prop- 
osition. Seven  years  afterwards,  to  the  cry  of 
"the  Swiss  railways  for  the  Swiss  people,"  it 
adopted  by  a  majority  of  203,916,  a  law  for  the 
nationalization  of  the  principal  systems.  Although 
a  law  establishing  a  State  Bank  and  pledging  the 


THE  RESULTS  OF  THE  REFERENDUM     101 

credit  of  the  Confederation  to  an  unlimited 
amount  was  defeated  in  1897  by  a  majority  of 
60,220,  a  law  creating  a  semi-State  Bank,  in  which 
private  capital  participated,  was  not  long  in  ob- 
taining acceptance  and  in  providing  the  country 
with  a  financial  institution  which  has  rendered 
untold  service,  especially  during  the  course  of 
the  world  war. 

A  memorable  shipwreck  was  that  of  a  proposal 
for  the  establishment  of  State  insurance  against 
sickness  and  accident.  This  work  of  L.  Forrer, 
who  afterwards  became  a  Federal  Councilor,  was 
carefully  thought  out.  It  formed  a  logical  and 
well-constructed  whole.  In  the  National  Coun- 
cil there  was  on  a  final  vote  only  one  dissentient. 
The  resistance  of  private  insurance  companies, 
friendly  societies  and  those  who  were  afraid  of 
administrative  complications,  ended  in  its  rejec- 
tion by  the  people  by  a  majority  of  194,092. 
Brought  forward  again  some  years  later  and  lim- 
ited to  the  nationalization  of  accident  insurance 
and  the  subsidizing  of  friendly  societies,  the  law 
was  passed  by  287,583  votes  against  241,418. 
And,  on  the  3rd  November,  1907,  the  friends  of 
the  Swiss  Army  had  the  pleasure  of  recording 
the  adoption,  by  329,953  against  267,605,  of  a 
law  dealing  with  military  organization  which  in- 
creased the  cantonal  quota  of  the  militia,  extended 


102     REAL  DEMOCRACY  IN  OPERATION 

the  duration  of  military  service  and  aroused  the 
passionate  opposition  of  the  Socialist  party.  In 
1891  and  1903,  increased  tariffs  assuring  a  mo'd- 
erate  degree  of  protection  for  industry  and  agri- 
culture were  sanctioned  by  majorities  of  61,070 
and  106,878,  respectively. 

I  might  continue  this  enumeration,  but  as  it  is 
it  will  have  sufficed  to  show  my  readers  that,  on 
the  whole,  the  sins  of  the  referendum  are  not 
mortal,  and  it  sometimes  happens  that  the  people 
see  more  clearly  than  parliaments. 

To  the  foreigner,  Swiss  "referendum  cam- 
paigns" present  features  of  great  interest.  The 
foreigner  smiles  sometimes  at  this  institution  which 
obliges  hundreds  of  thousands  of  citizens  of  all 
classes,  peasants,  laborers,  artisans,  to  give  their 
decision  upon  complicated  laws  which  seem  en- 
tirely beyond  their  capacity.  The  people  allowed 
the  "Code  of  Obligations"  and  then  the  recent 
Civil  Code  to  be  passed  without  demanding  a 
referendum.  This  was  not  the  case  with  the  fed- 
eral law  upon  bankruptcy  and  the  recovery  of 
debts.  The  referendum  had  been  demanded  and 
the  problem  was  to  enlighten  the  electoral  body 
upon  the  merits  of  a  law  designed  as  a  substitute 
for  the  legislation  of  25  cantons  on  the  same  sub- 
ject. A  reply  was  required  at  the  same  time  to 
a  host  of  criticisms  and  objections  to  various  pro- 


THE  RESULTS  OF  THE  REFERENDUM     103 

visions  raised  by  the  jurists  of  the  opposition.  It 
was  not  an  easy  task,  and  yet  it  was  accomplished 
by  means  of  pamphlets,  lectures,  public  meetings, 
and  energetic  propaganda  among  the  classes  most 
interested  in  the  substitution  of  a  single  sound 
law  for  the  chaos  of  25  cantonal  laws,  some  of 
which  perpetuated  positive  iniquities. 

I  still  remember  the  great  meeting  at  Lausanne 
organized  jointly  by  the  Liberal  and  the  Radical 
parties,  when  the  Federal  Councilor,  Louis 
Ruchonnet,  explained  and  defended  the  law  for 
which  he  was  mainly  responsible.  His  speech  was 
a  model  of  clear  and  persuasive  eloquence.  After 
his  explanation  of  the  principles  of  the  law,  citi- 
zens, whose  technical  knowledge  was  of  the  slight- 
est, were  astounded  at  the  ease  with  which  they 
understood.  The  opposition  to  the  law  was  in 
great  measure  due  to  party  tactics,  and  Louis 
Ruchonnet  referred  to  this  fact  with  some  bitter- 
ness: "This  measure  has  been  awaited,  prepared 
and  discussed  for  twenty  years  past.  It  has  re- 
ceived under  the  devoted  care  of  nearly  all  those 
whom  Switzerland  counts  in  the  special  domain  of 
the  law  her  greatest  authorities,  men  of  all  shades 
of  opinion  and  belief.  It  has  at  length  reached 
maturity.  We  had  hoped  that  after  its  approval 
by  the  Chambers  the  law  would  not  be  the  object 
of  opposition  from  the  people.  At  the  last  moment 


104     REAL  DEMOCRACY  IN  OPERATION 

this  hope  proved  vain;  a  numerous  section  stood 
aside,  the  referendum  was  demanded  and  a  great 
agitation  raised  in  Switzerland.  ...  I  do  not 
need  to  tell  you  that  the  motives  for  the  referen- 
dum have  nothing  to  do  with  the  law  itself,  but 
arise  from  political  and  religious  circumstances  of 
which  this  unfortunate  law  is  absolutely  innocent. 
A  sad  and  curious  picture  might  be  drawn  to-day 
of  the  reasons  which  provoked  the  demand  for 
a  referendum.  .  .  .  The  chief  leaders  of  the  party 
which  raised  the  standard  of  resistance  in  the 
Federal  Assembly,,  did  not  themselves  take  part 
in  that  resistance.  On  the  contrary,  some  of  the 
most  influential  and  best  qualified  among  them 
collaborated  in  the  law,  voted  for  it  in  committee, 
and  although  at  the  last  moment  they  may  have 
felt  it  their  duty  to  abstain  from  voting,  were 
already  too  far  committed  to  vote  against  it." 

Louis  Ruchonnet  concluded  his  address  by  say- 
ing: "The  demand  for  a  referendum  upon  a  sub- 
ject of  this  kind  rouses  many  suspicions.  When 
a  non-political  measure  which  is  no  concern  of 
parties  and  constitutes  no  breach  of  their  princi- 
ples, is  made  the  occasion  for  a  political  crisis, 
when  we  realize  that  it  is  possible,  upon  the  pre- 
text of  opposition  to  a  law  upon  the  recovery  of 
debts,  to  gather  under  a  more  or  less  demagogic 
flag  a  number  of  discontents  which  have  no  con- 


THE  RESULTS  OF  THE  REFERENDUM    105 

nection  whatever  with  that  law,  one  wonders  un- 
easily whether  the  referendum  is  a  good  institu- 
tion. Believing,  as  I  do,  that  the  referendum  is 
a  valuable  institution  which  can  render  genuine 
service,  I  desire  that  both  this  particular  measure 
and  the  referendum  itself  shall  emerge  triumphant 
from  the  ordeal.  If  a  few  agitators  can  make 
every  law  an  occasion  for  rallying  grievances  of 
all  kinds,  it  should,  in  my  opinion,  be  the  duty  of 
every  good  citizen  to  oppose  this  obstructionist 
tendency  and  by  hastening  with  enthusiasm  to  the 
ballot  to  ensure  the  triumph  of  truth  and  the  best 
interests  of  the  country." 

On  the  day  of  the  vote,  the  law  emerged  vic- 
torious from  the  ordeal,  by  a  small  majority, 
it  is  true,  but  probably  it  would  have  been  less 
readily  accepted  in  practice  if  it  had  not  had  to 
undergo  this  test  and  if  the  people  had  not  been 
obliged  to  acquaint  themselves  with  the  necessity 
and  the  value  of  this  new  legislation.  Thanks  to 
the  ground  on  which  the  opposition  had  taken  its 
stand,  the  result  was  at  the  same  time  a  great 
political  success  for  those  who  had  originated  and 
supported  it. 

If  the  patience  of  my  readers  is  not  exhausted, 
I  must  now  ask  them  to  bear  with  me  a  little 
longer  while  I  survey  the  vast  field  of  the  cantonal 
referendum.  There  will  be  a  rich  harvest  of 


106     REAL  DEMOCRACY  IN  OPERATION 

observations  to  be  gathered.  An  approximate 
summary  of  the  results  of  the  referendum  in 
cantons  not  possessing  a  Landsgemeinde  between 
1906  and  1916  gives  229  laws  or  decrees  accepted 
and  73  rejected.  These  figures,  which  do  not 
pretend  to  rigorous  exactitude,  do  not  include  all 
proposals  accepted.  It  would  be  necessary  to  add 
for  the  cantons  with  the  optional  referendum  all 
those — the  great  majority — which  were  sanctioned 
tacitly  by  the  people.  I  do  not  think  I  am  very 
far  from  the  truth  in  saying  that  on  the  whole  the 
laws  rejected  do  not  exceed  one-eighth  of  the  total. 
This  proportion  is  about  one-quarter  in  the  can- 
tons where  the  referendum  is  compulsory;  for 
the  rest  it  is  very  small  if  one  takes  into  account 
the  laws  and  decrees  coming  into  operation  with- 
out provoking  a  demand  for  a  referendum. 

To  illustrate  the  nature  of  the  proposals  re- 
jected by  the  people,  I  give  a  selection  of  the 
cantonal  laws  and  decrees  which  did  not  find  fa- 
vor with  the  people  from  1911  to  1915. 

In  1911  Basel-Stadt  rejected  a  tax  on  land 
values,  and  Basel-Land  a  law  on  the  payment  of 
officials  and  employees.  Solothurn  inflicted  the 
same  fate  upon  a  similar  law  and  also  one  dealing 
with  a  weekly  day  of  rest.  In  Ticino  it  was  an 
educational  law  which  foundered,  and  a  law  for 
the  institution  of  communal  council.  Valais  re- 


jected  a  law  for  the  adoption  of  the  Swiss  civil 
code;  Vaud  a  proposal  for  a  loan  of  ten  million 
francs;  Zurich  a  law  dealing  with  the  stock-ex- 
change, and  a  cantonal  law  applying  the  federal 
law  for  the  recovery  of  debts. 

In  1912  I  note  the  following  rejections:  Aargau 
a  law  for  the  release  of  criminals  on  ticket  of 
leave;  Basel-Land  again  a  law  upon  the  payment 
of  officials ;  Basel-Stadt  a  special  tax  for  the  clean- 
ing of  streets;  Bern  a  new  tax;  Geneva  a  credit 
for  the  reconstruction  of  the  "Electoral  Building" 
and  a  law  dealing  with  university  matters ;  Thur« 
gau  a  law  raising  the  salary  of  the  Attorney-Gen- 
eral from  2,600  to  5,500  francs,  and  another  deal- 
ing with  courts  of  arbitration;  Zurich  a  law  ren- 
dering married  women  ineligible  as  elementary 
school  teachers  and  a  proposal  for  the  extension 
of  the  cantonal  high  school. 

In  1913,  Aargau  rejected  a  law  on  the  payment 
of  teachers  and  an  electoral  law;  Basel-Land  a 
licensing  law;  Zug  a  game-law;  Zurich  a  law  regu- 
lating road-traffic  and  motor  vehicles;  Ticino  a 
law  increasing  the  salaries  of  councilors  and  offi- 
cials. 

In  1914  Bern  turned  down  a  law  substituting 
the  leasing  out  of  preserves  for  the  system  of 
game-licenses;  and  Schwyz  a  new  tax. 

In  1915  the  same  fate  was  inflicted  in  Grisons 


io8     REAL  DEMOCRACY  IN  OPERATION 

upon  a  law  on  fishing  rights;  in  St.  Gall  upon 
a  law  for  the  insurance  of  cattle;  in  Solothurn 
upon  a  proposal  for  the  adoption  of  the  federal 
law  for  sickness  and  accident  insurance ;  in  Ticino 
a  law  for  the  imposition  of  succession  duties;  at 
Zug  a  licensing  law. 

The  laws  or  decrees  which  the  people  seem 
to  have  most  difficulty  in  accepting  are  those  fix- 
ing the  remuneration  of  magistrates,  officials  or 
employees,  or  creating  new  offices;  new  taxes;  and 
laws  which  restrict  individual  liberty  or  appear 
to  maintain  privileges.  It  sometimes  happens  that 
the  legislator  has  to  return  twice  or  thrice  to  the 
charge.  Very  rarely,  however,  does  he  fail  in  the 
end  after  making  concessions  to  the  state  of  public 
opinion.  Here  and  there,  the  persistent  refusal 
of  the  people  has  resulted  in  a  kind  of  interdict 
upon  offices  which  are  ludicrously  remunerated — a 
strike  of  candidates;  but  such  cases  are  excep- 
tional. The  important  thing  to  notice  is  the  effect 
of  the  referendum  upon  the  legislator.  Knowing 
the  hostility  of  the  people  towards  salaries  at  all 
excessive,  he  is  obliged  to  take  this  into  account 
in  drafting  proposals.  Occasionally  even,  he  lops 
off  provisions  which  are  good  in  themselves  but 
which  he  knows  would  be  unpopular  and  perhaps 
involve  the  rejection  of  the  bill  by  the  people. 
Proposals  for  taxation  are  difficult  to  pass.  More 


THE  RESULTS  OF  THE  REFERENDUM     109 

than  once,  however,  very  radical  laws  have  been 
carried  by  a  substantial  majority  after  the  rejection 
of  less  extreme  proposals  or  proposals  effecting 
only  partial  reforms. 

It  might  be  imagined  that  the  financial  referen- 
dum is  particularly  murderous,  but  such  is  not  the 
case.  In  a  very  illuminating  work,  published  re- 
cently, Dr.  Paul  Kaufmann  has  made  a  detailed 
study  of  the  effects  of  this  institution  which  exists 
in  all  cantons  with  the  exception  of  Fribourg,  Aus- 
serrhoden  and  St.  Gall.  The  financial  referen- 
dum, as  we  have  seen,  applies  to  the  alienation  of 
cantonal  property,  loans,  the  imposition  of  new 
taxes,  the  fixing  of  salaries,  substantial  extraordi- 
nary expenditure,  etc.  Taking  one  after  another 
all  the  cantons  in  which  it  is  operative  Dr.  Kauf- 
mann shows  that,  since  1890,  inclusive  of  the  can- 
tons possessing  a  Landsgemeinde,  the  financial  ref- 
erendum has  resulted  in  the  adoption  of  82  pro- 
posals and  the  rejection  of  26.  Thus  the  propor- 
tion of  victims  is  one-quarter;  but,  in  this  case 
also,  to  the  first  figure  must  be  added  the  consid- 
erable number  of  proposals  adopted  tacitly  in  the 
cantons  where  the  financial  referendum  is  optional. 
Almost  all  the  cantonal  officials  consulted  by  the 
author  give  a  favorable  opinion  upon  this  appli- 
cation of  democratic  principles.  The  only  excep- 
tion is  the  canton  of  Aargau,  where  the  proportion 


no     REAL  DEMOCRACY  IN  OPERATION 

of  rejections  exceeds  one-half  and  the  State  has 
been  deprived  of  wellnigh  indispensable  resources 
by  a  majority  of  electors.  Probably  this  result 
must  be  ascribed,  not  to  the  referendum,  but  to 
political,  sectarian,  local  and  personal  divisions 
which  for  many  years  have  hindered  the  normal 
political  development  of  this  canton. 

The  people  is  not  staggered  by  heavy  expendi- 
ture or  big  loans,  but  it  is  essential  for  it  to  be 
informed  of  the  exact  purpose  of  such  expendi- 
ture and  to  be  shown  that  it  is  required  by  the 
public  interest.  On  more  than  one  occasion  pro- 
posals for  loans  have  been  rejected  when  govern- 
ments and  party  leaders  have  neglected  to  en- 
lighten the  people  adequately,  and  passed  in  the 
following  year  after  a  better  organized  campaign 
of  propaganda.  Although  very  niggardly  in  small 
matters,  especially  the  amount  of  salaries,  the 
electoral  body  does  not  adopt  a  stubborn  attitude 
at  all  towards  proposals  on  a  large  scale.  In 
the  cantons  of  Bern,  Vaud,  Zurich  and  many  oth- 
ers, millions  and  millions  of  francs  have  been 
granted  for  trans-Alpine  railways,  educational  es- 
tablishments, electricity  generating  stations,  road 
improvements,  etc. 

At  times  one  might  be  tempted  to  think  that 
the  majority  of  electors  follow  passively  a  ten- 
dency to  vote  always  yes  or  always  no.  The  con- 


THE  RESULTS  OF  THE  REFERENDUM     111 

trary,  however,  is  proved  by  the  results  of  the 
popular  vote  in  the  cantons  where  the  referen- 
dum is  compulsory  and  the  electors  have  to  vote 
upon  a  number  of  laws  and  decrees  of  different 
kinds  on  the  same  day.  The  elector  is  well  able 
to  distinguish.  He  accepts  some  and  rejects  oth- 
ers, and  has  no  difficulty  in  giving  the  reasons  for 
his  vote. 

Thirty  years  ago,  the  people  of  Zurich  rejected 
an  excellent  education  bill  upon  which  the  Cantonal 
Council  had  expended  vast  care  and  which  had 
the  support  of  all  parties.  The  result  caused 
stupefaction  and  people  began  to  call  democracy 
in  question.  "The  9th  December,  1888," 
wrote  the  Neue  Ziircher  Zeitung,  "is  a  black  page 
in  the  history,  not  only  of  our  canton,  but  of  the 
referendum.  If  anyone  desires  to  condemn  the 
Confederation  to  political  stagnation,  let  him  in- 
troduce the  compulsory  referendum  and  so  entrust 
the  fate  of  our  country  to  all  the  enemies,  con- 
scious or  unconscious,  of  political  progress."  The 
situation  was  not  as  desperate  as  this,  and  it  was 
not  many  years  before  the  disaster  was  repaired. 
It  should  be  stated  that  the  compulsory  referen- 
dum, which  had  been  in  operation  in  Zurich  for 
eighteen  years,  requires  a  more  or  less  lengthy  ap- 
prenticeship. It  has  to  outgrow  the  follies  of 
youth,  and  some  time  must  elapse  before  poli- 


112     REAL  DEMOCRACY  IN  OPERATION 

ticians  can  control  it.  Very  rarely  in  Switzerland 
has  any  reform  not  been  realized  which  is  in 
accordance  with  sound  principles  and  real  needs — 
if  not  at  the  first  attempt,  at  any  rate  a  little  later 
after  the  legislator  has  taken  into  account  the 
reasons  for  the  unpopularity  of  the  proposal  or 
been  at  more  pains  to  get  it  understood. 

Although  a  partisan  of  the  referendum,  I  am 
far  from  pretending  that  this  method  of  consult- 
ing the  people  is  faultless.  Apart  from  accidents, 
there  are  periods  when  it  is  traduced  by  evil  pop- 
ular instincts,  when  it  comes  under  the  influence 
of  local  rivalries,  and  when  it  serves  as  the  instru- 
ment for  the  spirit  of  routine  or  narrow  Con- 
servatism or  as  the  tool  of  demagogues.  But  this 
does  not  last  very  long,  and  the  people  recovers 
its  good  sense  and  its  appreciation  of  the  respon- 
sibilities of  citizenship.  The  army  of  those  whom 
the  German-Swiss  call  "Neinsager,"  persistently 
negative  electors  whose  vote  is  an  expression  of 
incurable  discontent,  seems  to  me  to  have  dimin- 
ished during  the  last  thirty  years.  It  is  true 
that  from  time  to  time  opposition  parties  still 
make  use  of  the  referendum  as  a  weapon  for  ob- 
struction and  a  method  of  wresting  concessions 
from  their  opponents  by  hindering  the  normal 
working  of  the  political  machine;  this,  however, 
happens  perhaps  less  frequently  than  formerly. 


THE  RESULTS  OF  THE  REFERENDUM     113 

Besides  these  drawbacks,  the  referendum  offers 
many  advantages  which  I  have  already  empha- 
sized. It  is  the  surest  method  of  discovering 
the  real  wishes  of  the  people — an  excellent  barom- 
eter of  the  political  atmosphere.  It  compels 
the  legislator  to  conform  with  the  aspirations 
of  the  people  if  he  does  not  wish  the  fruit  of  his 
labors  to  perish.  It  puts  an  end  to  acute  conflicts 
between  people  and  governments,  and  provides 
one  of  the  safest  barriers  there  can  be  against  rev- 
olutionary agitation.  Nothing  can  give  greater 
offense  to  those  anarchist  or  "Bolshevist"  sections 
which  wish  to  establish  the  rule  of  active  and 
violent  minorities.  Public  opinion  is  at  once 
ranged  against  anyone  who  rebels  against  the  ver- 
dict of  the  majority  expressed  according  to  legal 
forms.  Should  the  collectivists  ever  gain  power, 
the  practice  of  the  referendum  would  be  a  con- 
siderable obstacle  to  certain  of  their  social  experi- 
ments. In  Switzerland,  the  federalists,  who  did 
not  look  favorably  upon  the  introduction  of  the 
referendum  into  federal  affairs,  have  used  it  with 
success  more  than  once  in  opposition  to  measures 
of  premature  centralization.  In  the  cantons  the 
referendum  has  acted  as  a  curb  upon  democracy, 
and  it  is  quite  possible  that  it  may  develop  in 
a  similar  manner  in  the  Confederation. 

Evidently  the  referendum  cannot  always  be  re- 


114     REAL  DEMOCRACY  IN  OPERATION 

garded  in  the  same  light  by  the  people  and  by 
the  government  and  its  supporters.  When  a 
statesman,  a  Council  and  parties  have  taken  enor- 
mous trouble  to  bring  about  an  important  reform, 
and  the  labor  and  efforts  of  many  years  are  nulli- 
fied by  the  caprice  of  the  referendum,  the  disillu- 
sionment, sadness  and  pessimism  of  the  legislator 
are  easily  understood.  But  then  the  essential 
thing  is  not  to  throw  the  handle  after  the  hatchet 
but  to  seek  laboriously  for  the  causes  of  the  re- 
jection and  to  act  in  such  a  way  as  to  remedy  the 
evil. 

The  people  of  modern  democracies  is  no  longer 
the  irresponsible  demos  which  Aristophanes  pil- 
loried with  his  mordant  pen  in  the  "Knights"; 
a  brutal,  elderly  and  irascible  epicure,  a  willing 
prey  to  the  basest  flattery.  To-day  it  is  usually 
clear-sighted  and  obedient  to  its  best  impulses 
when  its  leaders  know  how  to  enlighten  it  by  ap- 
pealing to  it;  but  for  this  they  must  remain 
in  constant  contact  with  those  they  lead.  Inces- 
sant struggle  is  the  invariable  accompaniment  of 
the  political  life  of  democracies,  more  so  than  of 
any  other  form  of  government.  There  is  per- 
petual conflict  between  the  spirit  of  progress  and 
the  spirit  of  reaction.  The  forces  of  inertia  and 
disintegration  must  be  fought  incessantly  by  those 
which  make  for  the  healthy  development  of  politi- 


THE  RESULTS  OF  THE  REFERENDUM     115 

cal  and  social  institutions  and  their  better  adapta- 
tion to  the  needs  of  the  time.  It  is  this  struggle 
which  is  so  finely  expressed  by  Louis  Ruchonnet 
at  the  end  of  the  speech  from  which  a  quotation 
was  given  above. 

I  fully  realize  the  inadequacy  of  my  treatment 
of  the  referendum.  I  know  only  too  well  that 
it  could  easily  be  made  more  exhaustive.  But  I 
have  already  dwelt  long  enough  upon  the  subject, 
and  pass  on  with  all  possible  speed  to  another 
democratic  institution,  which  is  the  complement  of 
the  referendum.  I  refer  to  the  popular  initiative, 
a  subject  which  will  be  dealt  with  in  the  two  fol- 
lowing chapters 


CHAPTER  VI 

THE  POPULAR  INITIATIVE 

THE  referendum  either  confirms  or  destroys. 
The  .initiative  reverses  or  constructs  and  results 
sometimes  in  strange  disturbances  in  the  constitu- 
tional and  legislative  edifice.  But  what  is  this  right 
of  popular  initiative?  In  Switzerland  the  term  is 
applied  to  the  right  of  a  section  of  the  people  to 
bring  forward  a  proposal  of  a  constitutional,  legis- 
lative or  administrative  character  for  the  decision 
of  the  sovereign  electorate.  As  soon  as  the  pro- 
posal is  supported  by  the  number  of  signatures 
fixed  by  law,  the  popular  vote  must  take  place. 
In  this  respect,  the  initiative  is  distinguished  from 
the  simple  petition,  upon  which  Councils  are  not 
compelled  to  take  action.  The  initiative  has  this 
much  in  common  with  the  optional  referendum :  a 
fairly  considerable  number  of  signatures  must  be 
collected  to  set  it  in  motion.  But  it  differs  from 
both  types  of  the  referendum  in  that  it  creates  a 
new  right.  With  the  referendum,  the  co-opera- 
tion of  the  people  in  the  business  of  legislation  is 
of  a  quasi-passive  character;  with  the  initiative  it 

116 


THE  POPULAR  INITIATIVE  117 

is  an  active  and  directing  force.  The  proposal 
originates  with  the  people,  or  at  least  with  a  frac- 
tion of  the  people,  and  if  approved  by  a  majority 
of  the  electoral  body  it  becomes  from  that  mo- 
ment part  of  the  law  or  the  constitution  on  an 
equal  footing  with  bills  voted  by  the  Chambers. 
While  the  referendum  adds  nothing  to  the  rights 
of  peoples  which  possess  the  initiative,  the  initia- 
tive extends  the  rights  of  those  which  possess  the 
referendum  only:  in  the  majority  of  cantons  it 
permits  the  decision  of  the  Great  Council  to  be 
attacked  which  are  beyond  the  scope  of  the  refer- 
endum. 

The  initiative,  however,  is  not  exercised  by  the 
people  entirely  without  the  co-operation  of  the 
representative  councils.  Almost  always  the  latter 
have  the  right  to  give  their  opinion  upon  popularly 
initiated  proposals  and  to  oppose  counter-pro- 
posals of  their  own,  if  they  so  desire.  With  the 
referendum  the  people  is  deemed  to  give  its  opin- 
ion, explicitly  or  implicitly,  upon  all  the  important 
actions  of  the  Councils ;  with  the  initiative  the  peo- 
ple intervene  only  in  exceptional  cases  in  order 
to  modify  or  to  complete  legislation.  Like  the 
referendum,  the  initiative  has  remarkable  con- 
sequences. It  impels  councils  to  pass  laws  or  take 
action  upon  which  they  would  not  agree  but  for 
fear  of  the  initiative  in  their  rear.  The  initiative 


ii8     REAL  DEMOCRACY  IN  OPERATION 

also  has  the  special  virtue  of  setting  a  term  to 
serious  conflicts  which  may  arise  between  the 
people  and  its  rulers.  Nowadays  the  initiative 
suffices  to  settle  a  dispute  which  formerly  would 
have  ended  in  revolution — as,  for  example,  the 
case  of  a  government  obstinately  maintaining  a 
system  of  electoral  units  which  falsifies  the  ex- 
pression of  the  national  will  ["gerrymandering"]. 
The  right  of  initiative,  gained  after  untold  efforts 
by  parliamentary  assemblies,  has  become  in  Switz- 
erland a  right  of  the  people,  and  the  use  which 
the  Swiss  people  has  made  of  it  is  not  a  condemna- 
tion of  the  institution. 

The  right  of  popular  initiative  applies  in  Switz- 
erland both  to  the  Constitution  and  to  laws;  but 
the  Confederation  does  not  yet  possess  it  in  appli- 
cation to  legislative  proposals,  whereas  all  the  can- 
tons except  Fribourg  practice  it  both  in  constitu- 
tional and  in  legislative  matters.  It  is  exercised 
in  two  distinct  ways :  the  first  one  is  the  method  of 
the  "motion,"  as  the  Swiss  Constitutions  term  it, 
the  other  that  of  the  "formulated  initiative,"  in 
which  the  proposal  is  presented  in  full. 

In  the  highly  interesting  works  which  he  has 
published  upon  the  referendum,  the  late  Professor 
Jacques  Berney  expresses  the  view  that  the  so- 
called  "formulated  initiative"  alone  safeguards  in 
entirety  the  right  of  the  initiators.  With  the 


THE  POPULAR  INITIATIVE  119 

"motion,"  he  says  after  the  proposal  is  accepted 
by  the  people,  the  representative  body  can  easily 
give  to  the  bill  which  it  is  called  on  to  draft,  a  form 
which  is  contrary  to  the  views  of  the  petitioners 
or  even  such  as  to  ensure  its  rejection  by  the  sov- 
ereign people  in  the  last  resort.  I  do  not  think 
that  this  drawback  is  met  with  in  practice.  When 
the  people  accepts  a  popularly  initiated  "motion," 
the  Council  respects  its  decision  and  does  not  seek 
to  evade  it.  The  "formulated  initiative"  has  the 
advantage  of  necessitating  only  one  popular  vote, 
but  on  the  other  hand  it  has  certain  serious  de- 
fects. Whatever  care  its  authors  expend  upon  the 
drafting  of  their  bill,  it  is  often  found  that  it  is 
out  of  harmony  with  other  constitutional  or  legal 
provisions  or  that  its  authors  fail  to  hit  upon  the 
best  expression  of  their  ideas.  A  proposal  in 
general  terms,  upon  which  the  legislative  body 
proceeds  carefully  and  skillfully  to  draft  a  bill, 
would  have  better  chance  of  success  in  the  final 
vote. 

I  shall  give  as  an  example  the  federal  initiative 
of  a  demand  for  the  application  of  proportional 
representation  to  the  election  of  the  National 
Council.  In  all  probability  it  would  have  been 
accepted  if  its  authors  had  not  introduced  into  it 
a  much  contested  provision  making  each  canton  a 
constituency,  which  caused  many  supporters  of 


120     REAL  DEMOCRACY  IN  OPERATION 

proportional  representation  to  abstain  from  vot- 
ing. One  of  the  disadvantages  of  the  "formu- 
lated initiative"  is  its  liability  to  be  at  variance 
with  rights  guaranteed  by  law  or  the  Constitution. 
In  the  cantons  this  disadvantage  has  not  the  same 
weight  as  in  the  Confederation.  The  Federal 
Court  is  empowered  to  annul  decisions  of  the 
people  contrary  to  the  constitutional  rights  of  citi- 
zens, and  the  ordinary  courts  can  grant  legal  in- 
demnity to  those  whose  private  rights  are  in- 
fringed by  such  decisions.  This  is  not  the  case 
with  the  Confederation.  The  Federal  Court  does 
not  have  to  pass  judgment  upon  the  decisions  of 
the  Federal  Assembly  or  the  people.  The  Consti- 
tution obliges  it  to  apply  them. 

In  the  Confederation  the  right  of  popular  ini- 
tiative is  restricted  to  constitutional  changes;  but 
even  with  this  limitation  it  lends  itself  to  extraor- 
dinary extension,  as  may  be  inferred  from  the  ac- 
ceptance by  a  majority  of  the  people  and  of  the 
cantons  of  a  demand  for  the  prohibition  of  the 
slaughter  of  beasts  according  to  Jewish  rites.  The 
Federal  Constitution  regulates  the  initiative  in  the 
following  manner. 

In  the  case  of  a  total  revision  of  the  Constitu- 
tion, the  question  is  laid  before  the  people  if 
50,000  citizens  support  the  demand  (unless,  of 
course,  the  revision  is  decided  upon  by  the  Coun- 


THE  POPULAR  INITIATIVE  121 

cils) .  If  revision  is  approved  by  a  majority  of  the 
people,  the  two  Councils  are  renewed  and  draft 
a  bill  which  comes  into  operation  only  after  its 
adoption  by  a  majority  of  the  people  and  of  the 
cantons. 

The  Federal  Constitution  of  1874  contained 
no  provisions  for  the  partial  revision  of  the  Con- 
stitution by  means  of  the  initiative.  This  right 
was  reserved  to  the  Councils.  It  was  transferred 
to  the  people  in  1891.  Article  121  states  that 
the  popular  initiative  consists  of  a  demand  pre- 
sented by  50,000  citizens  for  the  passing  of  a  new 
article  or  the  repeal  or  amendment  of  any  speci- 
fied articles  of  the  Constitution.  If  a  number  of 
proposals  are  presented,  each  of  them  must  be 
the  subject  of  a  separate  demand.  The  initiative 
may  take  the  form  of  a  proposal  in  general  terms 
or  of  a  fully  drafted  bill. 

When  a  proposal  is  initiated  in  general  terms, 
the  Councils,  if  they  approve  of  it,  proceed  with 
the  partial  revision  indicated  and  submit  their  bill 
to  the  people.  If  the  Councils  do  not  approve  of 
the  suggested  proposal,  the  question  is  placed  be- 
fore the  people.  In  the  case  of  an  affirmative  re- 
ply, the  Federal  Chambers  proceed  to  make  the 
revision  decided  on  by  the  people.  When  the 
Federal  Chambers  are  confronted  with  the  full 
draft  of  a  bill,  they  may  approve  it  or  propose  its 


122     REAL  DEMOCRACY  IN  OPERATION 

rejection  or  submit  a  counter-proposal  to  the  peo- 
ple, but,  in  each  case,  the  popularly  initiated  bill 
must  be  submitted  to  the  people  and  to  the  can- 
tons as  it  is  without  amendment  or  addition.  Up 
to  the  present,  however,  the  Federal  Assembly  has 
never  made  use  of  its  right  to  present  a  counter- 
proposal. 

The  manner  in  which  the  initiative  has  been 
introduced  into  the  Federal  Constitution  has  pro- 
voked more  than  one  criticism.  Among  them  is 
one  relating  to  the  absence  of  any  restriction  upon 
the  federal  constitutional  initiative,  although  there 
is  no  federal  legislative  initiative,  i.e.  no  right  of 
initiating  laws  other  than  those  dealing  with  the 
Constitution.  The  Federal  Assembly  has  endeav- 
cvred  to  introduce  the  legislative  initiative,  but  it 
has  encountered  the  difficulty  of  safeguarding  the 
principle  of  federalism.  With  the  legislative  in- 
itiative, what  becomes  of  the  double  share  of  peo- 
ple and  of  cantons  in  federal  legislation  which  is 
carried  out  by  the  co-operation  of  two  Cham- 
bers, each  representing  one  of  these  elements? 
To  dispense  with  the  vote  of  the  cantons,  as  in 
the  legislative  referendum,  would  be  to  intro- 
duce legislation  by  the  people  alone  and  to  en- 
shrine in  the  Constitution  a  principle  with  far- 
reaching  consequences.  To  require  a  majority  of 
cantons  would  be  to  invite  dangerous  conflicts 


THE  POPULAR  INITIATIVE  123 

between  a  majority  of  the  cantons  and  a  majority 
of  the  people.  The  case  of  the  legislative  initia- 
tive is  on  all  fours  with  that  of  the  compulsory 
referendum  and  the  election  of  the  Federal  Coun- 
cil by  the  people.  Principles  accepted  in  the  can- 
tons under  the  weight  of  tradition  involve  serious 
disadvantages  when  transferred  to  a  sphere  in 
which  the  power  of  the  States  is  partitioned  be- 
tween two  sovereigns.  But  the  meshes  of  Article 
121  are  so  wide  that  in  reality  the  present  fed- 
eral initiative  may  be  applied  to  all  kinds  of  legis- 
lation, if  only  it  is  put  in  the  form  of  a  constitu- 
tional provision.  In  every  case,  of  course,  a  ma- 
jority of  the  cantons  is  required  as  well  as  of  the 
people. 

M.  Jacques  Berney  drew  attention  to  the  ex- 
traordinary scope  of  Article  121.  In  the  work 
from  which  I  have  already  quoted,  he  wrote :  "The 
restriction  of  the  'formulated'  initiative  to  partial 
revisions  of  the  Constitution  is  purely  formal;  in 
actual  fact  the  right  is  absolutely  unrestricted. 
Any  proposal  whatever,  whether  constitutional, 
legislative,  administrative  or  judicial  in  character, 
must  be  submitted  to  the  people  if  it  is  brought 
forward  in  the  form  of  an  article  of  the  Consti- 
tution. Indeed,  no  provision  of  the  Federal 
Constitution  or  of  any  federal  act  superior  to  the 
Constitution  prescribes  the  subjects  which  alone 


124     REAL  DEMOCRACY  IN  OPERATION 

are  to  be  regarded  as  constitutional  in  character; 
no  text  fixes  the  boundary  between  the  Constitu- 
tion on  the  one  hand,  and  laws,  decrees  and  orders 
on  the  other.  .  .  . 

"Any  citizen  can,  if  49,999  colleagues  support 
his  demand,  obtain  a  vote  of  the  Swiss  people  and 
cantons  upon  any  proposal  whatever,  provided 
that  externally  it  takes  the  form  of  an  article  of 
the  Constitution.  .  .  . 

"By  means  of  the  initiative,  then,  the  Swiss  peo- 
ple can  govern  itself  freely  in  all  matters.  It 
can  make  laws,  adopt  a  penal  code,  naturalize 
aliens,  pardon  the  condemned,  contract  loans,  con- 
vert the  national  debt,  grant  subsidies,  conclude 
treaties  and  denounce  them,  declare  war  and  make 
peace,  institute  tariffs,  abolish  taxes,  try  disputes, 
pronounce  judgment,  quash  the  sentence  of  a 
court,  condemn  a  citizen  to  death,  etc.  It  can 
take  any  decision  whatever,  upon  the  sole  condi- 
tion that  it  inscribes  it  in  the  Constitution.  Yet 
further,  it  can  turn  against  constituted  authorities, 
refuse  to  ratify  their  actions,  saddle  them  with  an 
imperative  mandate,  prorogue  or  dissolve  them 
at  any  time,  and  even  strip  them  of  their  func- 
tions." 

There  is  a  strain  of  humor  in  the  interpretation 
of  the  lamented  Lausanne  professor,  which,  how- 
ever, is  logically  correct.  But  men  do  not  act 


THE  POPULAR  INITIATIVE  125 

strictly  logically,  and  when  applying  a  principle 
they  are  able  to  take  into  account  the  principles 
limiting  its  application.  It  was  once  said  that 
France  was  an  absolute  monarchy  tempered  by 
song.  It  might  be  said  that  Switzerland  is  a  de- 
mocracy tempered  by  good  sense.  In  our  age, 
the  principle  of  the  separation  of  powers  is  too 
firmly  established  for  the  people  to  try  to  meddle 
in  judicial  matters  or  to  make  decisions  obviously 
beyond  its  competence  and  calculated  to  throw 
the  machinery  of  politics  and  administration  out 
of  gear.  What  used  to  happen  in  the  old  Lands- 
gemeinden  is  hardly  possible  now.  The  good 
sense  of  the  public  and  the  advance  of  civic  edu- 
cation would  offer  a  solid  barrier  to  such  caprice. 
If  the  popular  initiative  is  to  set  in  motion  an  elec; 
torate  of  900,000  citizens,  it  must  submit  reason- 
able proposals,  harmonizing  with  the  general  char- 
acter of  the  country's  institutions.  Apart  from 
the  rather  secondary  question  of  the  Jewish 
slaughter  of  beasts,  which  brought  humanitarians 
and  anti-Semites  into  the  same  camp,  the  Swiss 
people  hitherto  has  made  no  use  of  the  federal 
initiative  contrary  to  the  general  principles  of  the 
Constitution  and  the  rules  of  good  sense.  I  shall 
return  later  to  this  point,  when  I  examine  certain 
of  its  results. 

As  we  have  seen  in  the  historical  summary,  the 


126     REAL  DEMOCRACY  IN  OPERATION 

initiative  took  root  in  Switzerland  in  1845,  when 
the  canton  of  Vaud  incorporated  it  in  its  Consti- 
tution. It  will  perhaps  be  useful  if  I  give  here, 
as  I  did  for  the  referendum,  some  of  the  cantonal 
provisions  relating  to  the  initiative. 

All  the  cantons,  except  Fribourg,  possess  both 
the  constitutional  and  the  legislative  initiative. 
The  constitutions  of  the  cantons  with  Lands- 
gemeinden  place  practically  no  restrictions  upon 
the  scope  of  the  initiative.  This  is  also  true  of 
the  canton  of  Vaud,  where  the  only  restriction  is 
to  the  effect  that  the  constitutional  initiative  must 
be  in  general  terms.  Except  in  Zurich,  Zug  and 
St.  Gall,  where  the  subject  matter  of  the  initiative 
coincides  with  that  of  the  referendum,  and  in 
Schwyz,  Aargau  and  Schaffhausen,  where  it  is  less 
extensive,  the  scope  of  the  initiative  is  far  wider 
than  that  of  the  referendum.  The  initiative  en- 
ables to  be  brought  before  the  people  numerous 
degrees  or  orders  which  in  principle  are  exempt 
from  the  referendum. 

The  right  of  initiative  of  qualified  electors, 
states  Article  29  of  the  Constitution  of  Zurich,  is 
the  right  to  demand  the  passing,  the  repeal  or  the 
amendment  either  of  a  law,  or  of  a  decree  which 
is  not  exclusively  within  the  competence  of  the 
Cantonal  Council.  These  demands  may  be  offered 
in  the  form  of  a  simple  motion  or  that  of  a  fully 


THE  POPULAR  INITIATIVE  127 

drafted  bill.  In  either  case,  a  reasoned  state- 
ment must  be  given  in  support. 

When  a  citizen  or  an  authority  presents  a  de- 
mand of  this  kind  and  it  is  supported  by  one-third 
of  the  members  of  the  Cantonal  Council,  the  peo- 
ple is  called  upon  to  give  its  decision.  The  au- 
thor of  the  proposal  or  a  delegate  of  the  author- 
ity has  the  right  to  present  the  case  for  it  in 
person  before  the  Cantonal  Council  if  twenty-five 
members  at  least  of  this  Council  support  the  re- 
quest to  be  heard. 

A  vote  of  the  people  must  also  be  taken  when 
5,000  electors  or  a  number  of  assemblies  of  com- 
munes in  which  5,000  electors  have  voted  in  that 
sense  initiate  a  demand,  unless  the  Cantonal  Coun- 
cil adopts  the  proposal  initiated.  A  motion  pre- 
sented at  the  proper  time  must  be  submitted  to 
the  people  at  the  latest  by  the  second  ordinary 
vote  which  follows. 

Before  the  vote,  the  motion  or  the  bill  must 
always  be  submitted  to  Cantonal  Council  for  it 
to  give  its  opinion. 

When  an  initiated  law  is  submitted  to  the  vote, 
the  Cantonal  Council  can  present  an  alternative 
proposal. 

Similar  provisions  apply  to  the  constitutional 
Initiative. 

The  provisions  of  other  Cantonal  Constitutions 


128     REAL  DEMOCRACY  IN  OPERATION 

resemble  these  more  or  less  closely.  Differences 
occur  in  the  extent  of  its  application,  the  intervals 
of  time,  and  the  number  of  signatures  required, 
which  is  always  somewhat  small  so  that  there  may 
be  no  obstacle  to  the  exercise  of  the  right.  The 
"formulated  initiative"  has  prevailed  in  nearly  all 
cantons.  As  has  already  been  seen,  in  many  can- 
tons it  enables  the  people  to  give  their  verdict 
upon  laws  or  ordinances  which  escape  the  refer- 
endum. The  Constitution  of  Schaffhausen  lays 
down  that  in  the  case  when  a  proposal  and  a 
counter-proposal  are  presented  simultaneously  to 
the  people,  the  one  which  obtains  an  absolute 
majority  of  votes  is  to  be  considered  adopted,  and 
if  neither  obtains  an  absolute  majority  both  are 
rejected.  The  Constitution  of  Grisons  renders 
the  initiative  inapplicable  to  laws  which  have  come 
into  operation  within  less  than  two  years,  as  well 
as  urgent  decrees  of  the  Great  Council.  In  Bern, 
when  the  Great  Council  does  not  give  effect  to  a 
popularly  initiated  motion,  it  may  address  a  mes- 
sage to  tRe  electors  explaining  its  point  of  view. 
In  Fribourg,  the  initiative  applies  solely  to  the  case 
when  6,000  citizens  support  a  motion  for  the  total 
or  partial  revision  of  the  Constitution.  In  Neu- 
chatel,  when  the  Great  Council  declines  to  take 
up  a  popularly  initiated  proposal,  it  may,  as  in 
Bern,  explain  to  the  people  the  reasons  for  its 


THE  POPULAR  INITIATIVE  129 

decision  or  present  a  parallel  proposal.  In  Ge- 
neva, when  the  electors  have  the  choice  between 
a  proposal  brought  forward  by  means  of  the  in- 
itiative and  a  counter-proposal  of  the  Great  Coun- 
cil, they  have  the  right  of  voting  in  favor  of  both, 
whereas  the  federal  law  in  the  parallel  case  au- 
thorizes two  negative  votes  but  only  one  affirma- 
tive. The  Constitution  of  Vaud  provides  that  the 
assemblies  of  communes  have  the  right  of  voting 
upon  any  proposal  initiated  by  6,000  qualified  citi- 
zens, subject  to  the  reservation  that  the  "formulat- 
ed initiative"  is  not  allowed  upon  constitutional 
matters. 

Readers  who  may  desire  fuller  details  will  find 
them  in  the  Recueil  des  constitutions  federates  et 
cantonales,  published  by  the  Federal  Chancellery 
in  1910.  But  this  work  is  already  rather  out  of 
date.  Constitutions  are  no  longer  the  durable 
structures  they  used  to  be,  remaining  untouched 
for  years  on  end.  They  have  become  plastic,  al- 
ways changing  in  some  detail  or  other,  and  scarce- 
ly a  year  passes  without  one  or  another  of  them 
undergoing  more  or  less  important  alterations  or 
additions.  It  should  be  added  that  the  total  re- 
vision of  Constitutions  has  become  a  less  frequent 
occurrence.  Both  Confederation  and  cantons  now 
prefer  the  method  of  adaptation  to  the  needs  of 
the  day  by  specific  amendments  and  find  hardly 


130     REAL  DEMOCRACY  IN  OPERATION 

any  attraction  in  the  upheaval  of  a  general  re- 
vision which  was  often  the  favorite  weapon  of 
parties  aiming  at  the  overthrow  of  a  govern- 
ment. 


CHAPTER  VII 

THE  RESULTS  OF  THE  INITIATIVE 

IF  one  had  spoken  of  the  initiative  to  M. 
Guizot,  the  famous  doctrinaire  statesman  of  the 
July  monarchy,  he  would  have  demonstrated  with 
his  wonderful  eloquence  that  it  was  the  enthrone- 
ment of  anarchy  in  government  and  in  legislation. 
The  great  historian  believed  that  representative 
government,  exercised  by  the  upper  middle  class, 
was  adequate  recognition  of  democracy  and  the 
surest  guarantee  of  political  liberty.  Direct  gov- 
ernment by  the  people  seemed  to  him  an  utterly 
subversive  idea.  And  yet,  had  the  initiative  existed 
in  France  at  that  time,  it  might  perhaps  have  main- 
tained Guizot  in  power  and  Louis  Philippe  on 
his  throne.  The  revolution  swept  them  both 
away. 

Those  who  are  not  familiar  with  the  effects  of 
the  initiative  in  Switzerland  might  be  tempted,  as 
in  the  case  of  the  referendum,  to  believe  that 
it  was  a  source  of  great  embarrassment  to  govern- 
ments and  a  cause  of  serious  disturbance  in  legis- 
lation. This,  however,  is  not  the  case.  The  di- 

131 


132     REAL  DEMOCRACY  IN  OPERATION 

rect  and  indirect  effects  of  the  initiative  are  quite 
clear,  but  they  are  in  no  respect  revolutionary, 
and  although  the  initiative  is  not  so  conservative  a 
force  as  the  referendum,  it  is  still  very  far  from 
being  a  subversive  institution.  It  has  not  been 
so  hitherto  in  any  case.  On  the  occasion  when 
the  Swiss  Socialists  attempted  to  utilize  it  for  in- 
corporating the  right  to  work  in  the  Constitution, 
their  defeat  was  complete,  and  none  of  their  other 
efforts  has  met  with  any  more  success. 

Since  the  application  of  the  initiative  to  the 
partial  revision  of  the  Federal  Constitution,  in 
1891,  the  Swiss  people  has  made  use  of  it  ten  times 
in  twenty-six  years.  It  is  worth  while  to  examine 
each  of  these  cases. 

The  first — to  which  I  have  already  had  occa- 
sion to  refer — was  that  of  the  initiative  x  for  the 
prohibition  of  the  slaughter  of  beasts  not  pre- 
viously rendered  unconscious.  Sensitive  people 
denounced  the  Jewish  method  of  slaughtering  as 
inhumane;  a  gust  of  anti-Semitism  did  the  rest. 
The  proportion  of  electors  who  recorded  their 
votes  was  very  small.  Out  of  668,913  electors 
on  the  register,  191,517  voted  for  the  proposal 
and  127,101  against.  Ten  cantons  and  three 

1  In  current  usage  in  Switzerland,  the  word  "initiative"  is  em- 
ployed to  mean  both  the  right  of  popular  initiative  and  the 
demands  presented  to  the  people  in  virtue  of  that  right. 


THE  RESULTS  OF  THE  INITIATIVE     133 

demi-cantons  voted  in  favor,  and  nine  cantons  and 
three  demi-cantons  to  the  contrary. 

The  second  initiative  put  forward  by  the  So- 
cialist party  was  a  demand  for  the  recognition  of 
the  right  of  every  Swiss  citizen  to  adequately  paid 
employment.  Federal,  cantonal  and  communal 
authorities  were  to  render  this  right  effective  by 
all  possible  means.  This  ghost  of  1848,  so  dear 
to  the  Socialists  of  that  period,  received  a  frigid 
welcome  from  the  Swiss  people.  There  were 
75,880  affirmative  votes  and  308,289  negative. 

In  1894  the  Catholic  Right  and  the  Protestant 
extreme  Right  combined  upon  a  proposal  to 
weaken  the  Confederation  to  the  advantage  of  the 
cantons  by  decreeing  a  division  of  the  revenue 
from  customs,  which  constituted  the  chief  finan- 
cial resource  of  the  Confederation.  This  attack 
— 67,828  electors  had  given  their  signatures  in 
support  of  the  demand — was  repulsed  by  350,639 
votes.  The  number  in  its  favor  was  145,462. 
Seven  cantons  and  three  demi-cantons  were  for 
acceptance,  twelve  cantons  and  three  demi-cantons 
for  rejection. 

On  the  4th  November,  1900,  a  demand  initiated 
by  the  Socialist,  Catholic  Conservative  and  Lib- 
eral parties  for  the  application  of  proportional 
representation  to  the  election  of  the  National 
Council  was  turned  down  by  241,666  to  169,008 


134     REAL  DEMOCRACY  IN  OPERATION 

(10  cantons  and  3  demi-cantons  to  9  cantons  and 
3  demi-cantons). 

On  the  same  day  an  initiative  proposing  the 
election  of  the  Federal  Council  by  the  people  was 
also  refused  by  the  people  and  the  cantons.  The 
number  for  rejection  was  270,522,  for  acceptance 
145,926  (12  cantons  and  4  demi-cantons  to  7 
cantons  and  2  demi-cantons). 

In  1903  a  proposal  supported  mainly  by  the 
rural  population  and  aiming  at  the  election  of 
the  National  Council  upon  the  basis  of  the  Swiss 
population  and  not  upon  that  of  the  total  popula- 
tion, including  foreigners,  was  rejected  by  295,085 
to  95,121  (16  cantons  and  4  demi-cantons  to  3 
cantons  and  2  demi-cantons). 

In  1908  an  initiative  conferring  upon  the  Con- 
federation the  right  of  legislating  upon  the  utiliza- 
tion of  water-power  resources  was  withdrawn  by 
its  authors,  who  had  obtained  satisfaction  in  the 
meantime  from  the  Federal  Council,  which  itself 
submitted  to  the  Chambers  an  addition  to  the 
Constitution  upon  the  lines  proposed. 

On  the  9th  July,  1908,  the  Swiss  people  passed 
by  241,078  vot;es  to  138,669  an  initiative  pro- 
•  hibiting  the  importation,  manufacture  and  sale  of 
absinthe  or  its  imitations. 

On  the  3rd  October,  1910,  a  second  attempt 
to  introduce  proportional  representation  was  re- 


THE  RESULTS  OF  THE  INITIATIVE     135 

jected  by  265,194  to  240,305,  but  this  time  with- 
out a  majority  of  the  cantons. 

Finally,  in  1918,  a  Socialist  proposal  for  the 
introduction  of  a  direct  federal  tax,  which  was 
supported  by  the  great  federal  associations  of 
officials  and  employees,  was  rejected  by  321,000 
votes  to  275,000  and  by  13  cantons  and  3  demi- 
cantons  to  6  cantons  and  3  demi-cantons. 

Four  other  initiatives  are  now  pending,  and 
will  shortly  be  submitted  to  the  people.  The  first, 
which  is  a  renewal  of  the  attempt  to  obtain  pro- 
portional representation,  will  have  been  decided 
by  the  time  this  is  published.1  The  three  others 
are  aimed  at  the  submission  to  the  optional  refer- 
endum of  international  treaties,  which  have  a  du- 
ration of  more  than  thirty  years;  the  abolition 
of  military  courts;  the  entire  prohibition  of  games 
of  chance  ("boule"  and  "petits  chevaux")  still 
permitted  in  certain  casinos  and  kursaals. 

Thus,  out  of  ten  initiatives  submitted  to  the 
Swiss  people,  only  two  have  obtained  its  approval, 
and  even  should  forthcoming  votes  increase  the 
number,  it  will  be  agreed  that  there  is  no  reason 
for  disquiet  over  a  period  of  about  thirty  years. 

I  shall  dwell  a  little  on  two  of  these  initiatives 
—that  which  led  to  the  prohibition  of  absinthe, 

*It  was  adopted  on  the  i3th  October,  1918,  by  299,550  votes  to 
149»035   (I9//2  cantons  to  2j^). 


136     REAL  DEMOCRACY  IN  OPERATION 

and  that  which  sought  to  introduce  a  direct  fed- 
eral tax.     Both  are  typical. 

Towards  the  end  of  August,  1908,  a  horrible 
crime  was  committed  in  the  village  of  Commugny, 
close  to  Coppet,  in  Vaud.  A  French  laborer 
named  Lanfray,  in  a  state  of  semi-drunkenness, 
had  quarreled  violently  with  his  wife,  wrecked  his 
home,  and  then  taken  a  gun  and  shot  one  after 
the  other  his  wife  and  his  two  daughters,  aged 
four  years  and  one  year  and  a  half.  A  great 
stir  was  caused  by  this  crime,  throughout  the 
country.  Lanfray  was  a  drinker.  He  was  espe- 
cially addicted  to  liqueurs,  to  vermouth,  brandy, 
and  absinthe.  The  opponents  of  absinthe  judged  it 
a  favorable  opportunity  to  have  done  with  the 
evil,  and  addressed  themselves  to  the  Great  Coun- 
cil of  the  canton  of  Vaud.  It  would  have  been 
possible  for  them  to  make  use  of  the  initiative 
and  obtain  an  immediate  vote  of  the  people.  They 
could  have  collected  without  any  difficulty  the 
6,000  signatures  required  by  the  Constitution.  But 
the  result  would  have  been  doubtful  in  a  vine- 
growing  country,  where  teetotalers  are  not  in 
good  odor  and  are  suspected  of  harboring  much 
wider  intentions  than  the  prohibition  of  one  drink. 
The  enemies  of  absinthe  preferred  to  test  opin- 
ion by  organizing  a  general  petition,  in  which 
women  and  foreigners  could  participate.  They 


THE  RESULTS  OF  THE  INITIATIVE     137 

succeeded  beyond  all  their  expectations.  The  pe- 
tition was  signed  by  34,355  men  and  47,769 
women.  The  Great  Council  of  the  canton  of  Vaud 
took  the  moral  to  heart,  and  voted  the  prohibition 
of  absinthe. 

Then  came  the  turn  of  the  consumers  and  dis- 
tributors of  absinthe  to  react.  They  themselves 
had  recourse  to  the  initiative  (the  Vaud  form  of 
the  referendum),  demanded  the  repeal  of  the  law 
and  obtained  a  vote,  which  confirmed  the  decision 
of  the  Great  Council;  22,733  electors  voted  for 
the  maintenance  of  the  law,  and  15,811  for  re- 
peal, after  a  campaign  of  newspaper  articles  and 
public  meetings  in  which  both  the  medical  and  the 
clerical  profession  took  an  active  part  in  favor 
of  prohibition. 

From  Vaud  the  movement  spread  to  Geneva, 
where  prohibition  was  carried  by  a  small  majority, 
but  it  was  not  applied  rigorously,  and  its  opponents 
threatened  a  renewal  of  their  attack.  It  had  be- 
come obvious,  moreover,  that  cantonal  prohibition 
was  inadequate.  Transport  by  post  and  by  rail 
remained  unrestricted,  and  evasion  was  the  sim- 
plest of  matters.  To  complete  their  task,  the 
temperance  societies  decided  to  extend  the  move- 
ment to  the  whole  of  the  Confederation,  taking 
advantage  of  the  fact  that  in  German  Switzerland 
the  consumption  of  absinthe  was  a  negligible  quan- 


138    REAL  DEMOCRACY  IN  OPERATION 

tity.  They  obtained  167,814  signatures  to  a  "for- 
mulated initiative"  demanding  the  prohibition  of 
the  manufacture,  transport,  importation  and  sale 
of  absinthe  and  imitations  of  absinthe.  In  the 
Federal  Chambers  the  Federal  Council  showed 
little  favor  to  prohibition,  which  was  fought  es- 
pecially by  representatives  from  centers  of  cul- 
ture and  from  absinthe-producing  districts.  Nev- 
ertheless, the  majority  supported  the  initiative,  and 
recommended  the  people  to  accept  it.  On  the  9th 
July,  1908,  the  campaign  ended  in  the  adoption  of 
the  initiative.  The  proportion  of  voters  was  rath- 
er small  in  German  Switzerland.  I  have  already 
given  the  figures  of  this  vote,  as  a  result  of  which 
the  consumption  of  absinthe  has  fallen  to  prac- 
tically nothing. 

The  last  federal  initiative  was  a  consequence  of 
the  war.  To  redeem  a  portion  of  the  debt  of  over 
a  thousand  milliard  francs  which  the  Confedera- 
tion had  incurred  through  the  mobilization  of  the 
army,  and  to  meet  the  interest  on  this  debt,  the 
Federal  Chamber  passed  a  steeply  graduated  war- 
tax,  a  tax  on  war  profits,  and  raised  postal  and 
telephone  charges,  etc.  When  the  Federal  Coun- 
cil displayed  its  intention  of  having  recourse  again 
to  the  war-tax  and  to  certain  indirect  taxes,  es- 
pecially on  tobacco,  the  Socialist  party,  which 
was  opposed  to  indirect  taxation,  thought  it  a 


THE  RESULTS  OF  THE  INITIATIVE     139 

favorable  opportunity  for  launching  an  initiative 
for  the  introduction  of  a  permanent,  direct  fed- 
eral tax.  Its  proposal  was  put  before  the  electo- 
rate in  the  most  attractive  guise.  The  tax  was 
to  be  levied  only  upon  tax-payers  with  a  capital 
exceeding  20,000  francs  and  with  an  earned  in- 
come exceeding  5,000  francs.  It  was  calculated 
that  only  8  per  cent,  would  be  affected.  The  Fed- 
eral Council  and  the  Chambers  refused  their  adhe- 
sion to  this  initiative.  A  fierce  campaign  ensued. 
The  Socialists  had  succeeded  in  winning  for  their 
proposal  the  support  of  the  leaders  of  the  associa- 
tions of  federal  officials,  employees  and  workmen, 
certain  sections  oif  "Young  Radicals,"  and  even 
here  and  there  in  German  Switzerland  some  radi- 
cal elements.  The  initiative  was  a  grave  danger 
for  the  federalists.  If  the  Confederation  once 
obtained  the  power  of  imposing  a  direct  gradu- 
ated tax,  over  and  above  similar  taxes  imposed  by 
the  cantons  and  the  communes,  the  result  must  be 
the  financial  weakening  of  the  cantons  and  the 
eventual  unification  of  direct  taxation.  One  of 
the  authorities  upon  Swiss  constitutional  law,  M. 
Hilty,  had  ventured  to  assert  that  the  exclusive 
right  of  direct  taxation  was  the  clearest  example 
of  the  sovereign  powers  still  retained  by  the  can- 
tons! 

The  bulk  of  the  Radical  party,  especially  in 


140     REAL  DEMOCRACY  IN  OPERATION 

French-speaking  Switzerland,  the  Liberal  party 
and  the  Catholic-Conservatives  organized  an  ac- 
tive opposition  to  the  initiative,  while  the  Social- 
ists made  their  appeal  to  the  lowest  instincts  of 
human  nature.  On  the  eve  of  the  poll  a  cartoon 
in  one  of  their  chief  papers  depicted  the  initiative 
as  a  cannon  discharging  a  shell  to  blow  up  the 
strong-boxes  of  the  capitalists.  The  initiative 
was  rejected  by  a  majority  of  the  people  and  of 
the  cantons,  but  the  actual  majority  of  votes  was 
inconsiderable,  and  those  federalists  who,  in  1891, 
assisted  the  introduction  in  the  Constitution  of 
partial  revision  by  means  of  the  initiative,  have 
come  to  realize  the  dangers  with  which  this  insti- 
tution threatens  the  principle  so  dear  to  them.  It 
is  not  always  easy  to  make  the  electors  understand 
that  a  measure,  although  intrinsically  sound, 
should  be  rejected  because  it  disturbs  the  balance 
of  the  federative  institutions,  and  would  involve 
a  redistribution  of  powers  between  the  Confedera- 
tion and  the  cantons.  Hitherto  the  federal  in- 
itiative has  not  been  a  source  of  difficulties  for  the 
Confederation,  but  it  may  conceivably  lead  to  some 
surprises. 

In  the  cantons,  where  the  question  of  the  dis- 
tribution of  sovereign  powers  does  not  arise,  the 
initiative  has  been  found  even  less  objectionable 
than  in  the  Confederation.  An  examination,  sim- 


THE  RESULTS  OF  THE  INITIATIVE     141 

i 

ilar  to  that  made  in  the  case  of  the  referendum, 
of  the  results  of  the  voting  upon  cantonal  initia- 
tives from  1905  to  1916 — the  cantons  with  Lands- 
gemeinden  excluded — shows  that,  out  of  thirty- 
six  proposals  initiated,  twenty-six  have  been  re- 
jected and  ten  accepted.  This  indicates  that  the 
people  is  much  more  circumspect  and  discreet 
about  proposals  coming  from  one  or  another  of 
its  sections  than  about  the  laws  and  decrees  passed 
by  its  representatives.  The  majority  of  initiatives 
for  a  reform  of  the  system  of  taxation  figure 
among  the  rejected  proposals.  Quite  recently, 
however,  the  canton  of  Bern  has  succeeded,  after 
more  than  one  failure,  in  improving  its  system 
of  taxation,  thanks  to  an  initiative  which  had  the 
almost  unique  good  fortune  of  gaining  the  support 
of  both  Socialists  and  Radicals. 

As  the  initiative  is,  above  all,  a  weapon  of  op- 
position, it  is  not  surprising  that  minorities  avail 
themselves  of  it  for  the  purpose  of  introducing 
a  system  of  proportional  representation.  But 
usually  they  achieve  their  aim  only  after  re- 
peated attacks  and  a  split  in  the  governmental 
party.  In  the  canton  of  St.  Gall,  it  was  only  at 
the  fourth  vote  that  a  coalition  of  Catholic-Con- 
servatives and  parties  of  the  extreme  Left  car- 
ried their  bill  for  proportional  representation  after 
three  failures.  In  Basel-Stadt,  too,  three  attempts 


142     REAL  DEMOCRACY  IN  OPERATION 

were  necessary  to  reach  the  same  result.  In  Zu- 
rich, the  proportional  scheme  submitted  to  the  peo- 
ple by  the  Great  Council  was  rejected  in  1911 
by  42,197  votes  to  39,474.  In  1916  a  proposal 
submitted  by  initiative  was  carried  by  48,672  to 
41,919.  In  Aargau  proportional  representation 
was  rejected  by  24,272  to  14,499. 

Among  other  rejected  initiatives,  I  may  men- 
tion in  Geneva  one  for  compulsory  State  insur- 
ance of  personal  property,  and  another  for  the 
throwing  open  of  the  legal  profession;  and  in 
Basel-Stadt  an  initiative  in  favor  of  compulsory 
voting.  The  initiative  has  one  success  to  its  credit 
in  the  canton  of  Solothurn,  the  institution  of  a 
fund  for  insurance  against  old  age. 

It  is  interesting  to  note  that  the  canton  of  Vaud, 
where  the  scope  of  the  initiative  is  unrestricted, 
is  one  of  those  which  have  made  least  use  of  this 
institution.  From  1845  to  tne  present  day  seven 
initiatives  are  recorded.  The  first,  in  1851,  sought 
to  make  the  holding  of  certain  public  offices  a  dis- 
qualification for  membership  of  the  Great  Coun- 
cil. It  was  accepted.  The  second,  in  1863,  pro- 
posed the  repeal  of  a  law  instituting  a  tax  on 
personal  estate.  The  people  replied  in  the  negative 
and  upheld  the  law.  The  third,  a  "formulated 
initiative"  making  the  holding  of  certain  cantonal 
offices  a  disqualification  for  the  position  of  deputy 


THE  RESULTS  OF  THE  INITIATIVE     143 

in  the  Federal  Chambers,  was  adopted  in  1883. 
In  the  same  year  the  electorate  approved  an  in- 
itiative for  the  total  revision  of  the  Cantonal  Con- 
stitution by  means  of  a  Constituent  Assembly.  In 
1901  the  initiative  was  again  set  in  motion  for  the 
repeal  of  a  law  for  the  observance  of  the  Sab- 
bath just  passed  by  the  Great  Council.  The  au- 
thors of  the  initiative  carried  the  day  by  a  ma- 
jority of  a  few  hundred  votes.  The  last  two  in- 
itiatives aimed  at  the  repeal  of  a  law  for  the  pro- 
hibition of  absinthe  ( 1905)  and  at  the  direct  elec- 
tion of  the  State  Council  by  the  people.  The  first 
came  to  nothing,  but  the  second  was  carried. 

It  is  noteworthy  that  two  important  decisions — 
the  abolition  of  State  assistance  to  the  Church  in 
Basel  and  Geneva — were  taken  by  the  Great 
Councils  and  not  as  a  result  of  initiatives.  Both 
were  approved  by  the  people,  and  one  has  some 
right  to  speak,  as  in  the  case  of  the  referendum, 
of  the  stimulating  effect  of  the  initiative  upon  the 
activity  of  the  legislative  authorities.  It  induces 
them  to  keep  a  keen  watch  on  the  needs  of  the 
time.  The  majority  of  constitutional  changes  in 
the  later  period  have  taken  place  upon  the  initia- 
tive, not  of  the  people,  but  of  the  Great 
Councils. 


CHAPTER  VIII 

THE  ELECTION  OF  THE  GOVERNMENT  AND  OFFICIALS 
BY  THE  PEOPLE 

WHILE  in  the  majority  of  European  countries 
the  members  of  the  government,  the  ministers, 
are  chosen  by  the  head  of  the  State  from  the  ma- 
jority of  the  Chambers,  in  Switzerland  they  are 
selected  in  nearly  all  cases  directly  by  the  people. 
This  was  always  the  case  in  the  cantons  possessing 
a  Landsgemeinde.  In  the  rest,  the  appointment  of 
the  government  was  originally  within  the  sphere 
of  the  Great  Councils;  but  as  early  as  1846  in 
Geneva  the  Radicals  restored  this  privilege  to  the 
people,  and  since  then  almost  all  the  other  can- 
tons have  followed  suit.  There  are  now  only  two, 
Valais  and  Fribourg,  where  the  State  Council  is 
still  appointed  by  the  Great  Council.  Whether 
the  government  is  elected  by  the  people  or  the 
Great  Council,  a  peculiarity  of  the  institution  in 
Switzerland  is  the  absence  of  what  is  called  parlia- 
mentary responsibility.  A  State  Council  placed  in 
a  minority  of  the  Great  Council  or  of  the  peo- 
ple does  not  resign.  It  conforms  with  the  cx- 

144 


ELECTION  OF  GOVERNMENT  BY  PEOPLE  145 

pressed  will  of  the  majority  and  continues  in  office 
till  its  legal  term  expires.  "The  Swiss  people  dis- 
owns its  representatives  and  then  reelects  them," 
said  Marc  Monnier  in  a  much  quoted  quip  which 
has  a  foundation  of  truth.  The  Swiss  people  does 
not  believe  that  its  officers  and  deputies  are  in- 
fallible, but  it  does  not  care  to  deprive  itself  of 
their  experience  and  their  services  because,  upon 
one  point  or  another,  it  finds  itself  in  disagree- 
ment with  them.  If  the  disagreement  is  chronic 
and  persistent,  it  waits  for  the  time  for  the  re- 
newal of  its  authorities,  and  proceeds  to  change 
them.  This,  however,  is  rather  a  rare  occurrence. 
So  far  as  its  rulers  are  concerned,  the  people  is 
still  more  conservative  than  parliamentary  assem- 
blies. Once  elected,  a  State  councilor  generally 
remains  in  office  until  he  resigns  voluntarily.  Ven- 
erable councilors  have  been  known  to  be  reflected 
against  the  desires  of  the  parties  which  placed 
them  in  power.  If  the  Swiss  people  remunerates 
its  officers  far  from  excessively,  at  any  rate  it  rare- 
ly displays  ingratitude  towards  them.  Only  as  a 
result  of  extreme  incapacity  or  negligence  are  they 
ever  dismissed. 

This  does  not  imply  that  the  people  lacks  any 
desired  means  for  bringing  its  officers  into  har- 
mony with  its  own  opinions.  We  have  seen  that, 
in  addition  to  the  periodic  reelections,  many  can- 


146     REAL  DEMOCRACY  IN  OPERATION 

tons  have  adopted  the  Recall,  both  for  the  Great 
Council  and  for  the  State  Council. 

I  do  not  pretend  an  unqualified  admiration  for 
the  direct  election  of  the  members  of  the  govern- 
ment. There  is  evidence  from  more  than  one  can- 
ton to  prove  that  the  level  of  governments  has  not 
risen  since  the  right  of  election  passed  from  the 
Great  Council  to  the  people.  Parties  are  often 
inclined  to  strengthen  their  chances  in  the  election 
by  giving  preference  to  candidates  who  are  not  the 
most  capable  just  because  they  are  most  popular, 
and  leaving  aside  those  whose  independence  and 
energy  has  brought  them  many  enemies ;  but  I  be- 
lieve that  practically  no  case  is  known  in  which  a 
representative  of  the  majority  of  proved  ability 
has  been  excluded  from  a  government  which  he 
desired  to  join.  The  fears  which  were  entertained 
originally  concerning  possible  conflicts  between 
two  authorities — the  Great  Council  and  the 
State  Council — required  to  work  together  and 
both  dependent  on  the  same  electorate  have  been 
little  confirmed  by  events.  Popular  election  guar- 
antees the  independence  of  the  two  authorities, 
frees  the  government  from  parliamentary  intrigue 
and  establishes  a  closer  contact  between  the  people 
and  those  who  direct  public  affairs. 

It  is  argued  that  the  only  result  of  popular  elec- 
tion is  to  substitute  the  influence  of  electoral  com- 


ELECTION  OF  GOVERNMENT  BY  PEOPLE  147 

mittees  for  that  of  parliament.  This  is  true  up  to 
a  certain  point,  but  an  electoral  committee  can  do 
nothing  against  a  man  who  succeeds  in  winning 
the  confidence  of  the  country.  There  can  be  no 
doubt  that  popular  election  imposes  upon  members 
of  a  government  duties  which  at  times  are  oner- 
ous, compelling  them,  for  instance,  to  attend  nu- 
merous meetings,  banquets  and  other  functions 
to  which  considerations  of  health  and  personal  in- 
clination would  not  lead  them;  it  has  long  been 
a  matter  of  common  knowledge  that  in  a  democ- 
racy, and  in  other  political  systems  too,  the  pri- 
mary condition  of  a  statesman's  success  is  good 
health,  physical  and  mental  vigor,  ability  to  bear 
severe  tests.  The  public  requires  much  from  a 
man  who  aspires  to  public  life. 

The  number  of  members  of  the  cantonal  gov- 
ernments varies  from  five  to  nine,  and  their  legal 
term  of  office  is  usually  three  or  four  years.  These 
governments  are  elected  by  a  constituency  consist- 
ing of  the  whole  canton.  Almost  everywhere  their 
members  do  not  form  part  of  the  Great  Council, 
but  attend  its  meetings  in  a  consultative  capacity. 
The  Constitution  of  Lucerne  requires  that,  in  the 
composition  of  the  State  Council,  fair  representa- 
tion must  be  accorded  to  the  minority,  which  in 
practice  is  observed  by  the  election  of  a  State 
Council  composed  of  five  Catholic-Conservatives 


148     REAL  DEMOCRACY  IN  OPERATION 

and  two  Radical-Liberals.  In  Zug  the  State  Coun- 
cil of  seven  members  is  elected  under  a  system 
of  proportional  representation.  In  Ticino  the 
State  Council  of  five  is  elected  by  a  limited  vote 
which  gives  some  representation  to  the  minority. 
Indeed,  in  almost  all  cantons,  minorities,  or  at 
least  the  most  important  of  them,  are  represented 
in  the  government  as  a  result  either  of  succession 
in  the  electoral  campaign  or  of  concessions  made 
by  the  majority  voluntarily  and  under  no  consti- 
tutional obligation.  In  Solothurn,  if  a  requisition 
is  supported  by  4,000  electors,  the  question  of  the 
recall  of  the  government  is  submitted  to  the  peo- 
ple. In  the  Constitution  of  this  canton  one  rather 
strange  provision  calls  for  mention:  not  only  the 
meetings  of  the  Great  Council,  but  also  those  of 
the  State  Council  are  open  to  the  public.  The 
State  Council  is  required  to  announce  the  times 
of  its  meetings. 

In  Grisons  the  State  Council  or  Lesser  Council 
is  elected  for  a  term  of  three  years.  It  is  the 
only  canton  in  which  it  is  not  possible  to  grow  old 
in  power :  the  members  can  be  reflected  twice  only. 
In  Thurgau  the  State  Council  of  five,  and  likewise 
the  Great  Council,  can  be  recalled  by  the  people 
on  the  demand  of  5,000  citizens.  In  Bern,  where 
the  Executive  Council  numbers  nine  members,  the 
Constitution  lays  down  that  fair  representation 


ELECTION  OF  GOVERNMENT  BY  PEOPLE  149 

shall  be  granted  to  the  minority.  At  the  present 
moment  the  Bern  Council  consists  of  seven  Radi- 
cals and  two  Conservatives — seven  German-speak- 
ing members  and  two  representatives  of  the 
French-speaking  population  of  the  Jura.  Accord- 
ing to  Article  52  of  the  Constitution  of  Valais,  a 
canton  whose  history  is  a  series  of  often  bloody 
struggles  between  different  districts,  executive  and 
administrative  power  is  entrusted  to  a  State  Coun- 
cil of  five  members,  two  chosen  by  the  electors  of 
Upper  Valais  (the  German  part  of  the  canton), 
one  by  Central  Val&is  and  two  by  Lower  Valais. 
The  Constitution  of  the  canton  of  Vaud  makes  a 
concession  to  local  claims  by  prescribing  that  not 
more  than  two  members  of  the  State  Council  may 
be  chosen  from  citizens  domiciled  in  the  same  dis- 
trict for  a  period  of  one  year. 

It  was  natural  that  attempts  should  be  made 
to  apply  to  the  federal  government,  the  Federal 
Council,  the  method  of  direct  election  adopted  by 
nearly  all  the  cantons  successively.  As  early  as 
1848,  when  the  Constitution  was  drawn  up,  the 
system  obtained  a  large  number  of  votes.  We 
have  seen  above  that  a  proposal  initiated  in  1900 
with  the  same  end  in  view  was  rejected  by  a  great 
majority.  It  still  figures  in  the  program  of  many 
parties,  and  some  day  perhaps  its  advocates  may 
succeed  in  getting  it  incorporated  in  the  Constitu- 


150     REAL  DEMOCRACY  IN  OPERATION 

tion.  Every  time  the  action  of  the  Federal  Coun- 
cil arouses  discontent,  the  opposition  trots  it  out 
again  as  the  solution  for  the  future.  The  out-and- 
out  advocates  of  centralization  raise  no  objection; 
not  so  the  federalists.  At  present  the  Federal 
Council  is  elected  by  the  National  Council  and  the 
Council  of  State  sitting  jointly  as  the  Federal  As- 
sembly, i.e.  by  the  representatives  of  the  people 
and  of  the  cantons.  With  direct  election  a  ma- 
jority of  the  people  would  have  to  suffice,  unless 
recourse  was  had  to  highly  complicated  systems. 
The  cantonal  element  would  lose  all  influence  upon 
the  election. 

But  there  are  additional  considerations  to  be 
urged.  In  its  choice,  the  Federal  Assembly  nearly 
always  tries  to  take  into  account  not  only  the  per- 
sonal fitness  of  the  candidates,  but  also  the  neces- 
sity of  assuring  the  representation  of  the  differ- 
ent regions  of  Switzerland  and  the  different  na- 
tional tongues.  Parties  are  also  borne  in  mind. 
At  the  present  time  the  Federal  Council  consists 
of  five  Radicals,  one  Catholic-Conservative  and 
one  Liberal — four  German-speaking  members, 
two  French,  and  one  Italian,  and,  moreover,  one 
of  the  four  German-Swiss  members  is  a  native  of 
the  part  of  the  canton  of  Grisons  where  Romance, 
a,  dialect  of  Latin  origin,  is  spoken.  It  is  very 
questionable  whether  party  committees  would  ar- 


ELECTION  OF  GOVERNMENT  BY  PEOPLE  151 

rive  at  an  equally  satisfactory  distribution;  and  if 
there  were  a  contest,  a  vote  taken  over  the  whole 
of  the  country  would  be  certain  to  upset  all  com- 
binations. 

In  one  of  his  political  essays,  M.  Numa  Droz 
expressed  certain  views  upon  the  subject,  which  I 
do  not  hesitate  to  quote  at  length.  Although  writ- 
ten in  1893,  they  apply  just  as  accurately  to  the 
situation  in  1918 : 

"From  1848  to  1893  Switzerland  has  had  in  all 
thirty-one  federal  councilors,  of  whom  seven  are 
still  in  power.  Of  the  twenty-four  who  died  in 
office  or  resigned,  fourteen  have  had  to  be  re- 
placed in  the  course  of  an  administrative  term;  in 
other  words,  if  the  first  election  in  1848  is  ex- 
cepted,  the  majority  of  the  members  of  the  Fed- 
eral Council  have  entered  that  body  as  the  result 
of  individual  election.  Very  frequently  the  choice 
of  the  candidate  has  presented  some  difficulty;  the 
considerations  discussed  above  (cantons,  parties) 
had  to  be  taken  into  account,  and  not  least  among 
them  the  worth  of  the  candidate.  With  about  one 
exception,  all  federal  councilors  have  been  chosen 
from  members  of  the  Chambers.  Thus  they  had 
been  observed  at  work;  their  ability  and  charac- 
ter were  known  and  discussed  even  before  the 
election.  The  crucial  question  was  much  more 
whether  the  candidate  possessed  the  qualities  of  a 


152     REAL  DEMOCRACY  IN  OPERATION 

ruler  and  administrator  than  whether  he  was  one 
of  the  great  leaders  of  his  party.  The  tribune  of 
the  people  was  not  exactly  the  type  preferred; 
hence  the  resentment  of  more  than  one  neglected 
personality,  hence,  too,  in  part,  the  demand  for 
direct  election. 

"Consider  now  an  isolated  election  on  a  popu- 
lar basis;  is"  it  quite  certain  that  the  majority  of 
electors  would  give  due  weight  to  all  the  consid- 
erations which  determine  the  choice  of  the  major- 
ity of  the  Chambers?  Is  it  quite  certain  in  par- 
ticular that  they  would  respect  the  proportional 
principle? 

"Under  a  legal  system  of  proportional  repre- 
sentation, in  all  probability  not  a  single  candidate 
would  be  elected  with  an  absolute  majority. 
There  would  be  seven  federal  councilors,  two  or 
three  representing  the  Radical  party,  one  or  two 
the  Catholic  party,  one  or  two  the  Liberty  party, 
and  possibly  one  the  Socialist  party.  Undoubt- 
edly, for  the  purpose  of  avoiding  undue  complex- 
ity in  the  system  of  voting,  other  proportional 
principles,  which  in  my  opinion  are  far  superior 
to  mere  party  classifications,  would  have  to  be 
abandoned ;  I  refer  to  the  equitable  representation 
of  the  languages,  cantons  and  different  regions  of 
Switzerland.  It  would  no  longer  be  possible  to  ap- 
portion the  available  talent  so  that  every  depart- 


ELECTION  OF  GOVERNMENT  BY  PEOPLE  153 

ment  of  the  Federal  Council  was  given  a  head 
capable  of  directing  it.  The  logic  of  the  situa- 
tion, if  not  party  discipline,  would  lead  every  suc- 
cessful candidate  to  look  upon  himself,  essentially 
if  not  solely,  as  a  delegate  to  the  government  in 
support  of  the  electoral  program  upon  which  he 
was  appointed.  Would  such  a  government  ever 
be  capable  of  inspiring  confidence  at  home  or 
abroad?  How  could  such  party  puppets  pretend 
to  the  dignity  of  the  chosen  of  the  nation? 

"It  is  said  that  Switzerland  is  a  democracy 
tempered  by  good  sense.  Every  elective  system, 
direct  or  indirect,  which  is  not  decided  by  an  abso- 
lute majority,  will  produce  a  weak  and  divided 
Federal  Council." 

The  advocates  of  direct  election  for  the  Federal 
Council  base  their  claim  almost  exclusively  upon 
the  undisputed  principle  of  the  sovereignty  of  the 
people  opposed  to  the  representative  system.  M. 
Numa  Droz  rejoins : 

"Election  of  the  Federal  Council  by  the  people 
is  a  decisive  step  in  the  direction  of  a  unitary  sys- 
tem. .  .  .  The  implications  of  a  principle  cannot 
be  evaded  for  ever,  even  if  circumstances  delay 
their  appearance  for  a  time.  The  first  breach  has 
been  made  in  the  federative  system  by  the  optional 
referendum,  which  does  not  affect  the  action  of 
the  cantons  in  the  preliminary  stages,  but  does 


154     REAL  DEMOCRACY  IN  OPERATION 

away  with  it  at  the  crucial  point  of  the  final  vote. 
That  is  not  the  end  of  the  matter:  the  initiative 
has  just  been  extended  to  the  partial  revision  of 
the  Constitution,  and  the  first  use  to  which  it  has 
been  put  would  constitute  an  act  of  religious  in- 
tolerance. .  .  . 

"For  the  complete  realization  of  its  program, 
direct  democracy  demands  or  will  demand  one 
after  the  other  the  election  of  the  Federal  Coun- 
cil by  the  people,  the  compulsory  referendum,  in- 
cluding the  financial  referendum,  the  extension 
of  the  initiative  to  laws,  a  single  Chamber,  the 
election  of  federal  judges,  and  the  election  of  the 
president  of  the  Confederation.  At  the  end  of 
the  journey  there  is  evidently  nothing  but  the  uni- 
tary State,  not  to  say  dictatorship,  the  usual  cul- 
mination of  democracy  carried  to  extremes.  .  .  ." 

These  reflections  may  seem  a  little  pessimistic. 
According  to  my  showing,  the  exercise  of  popular 
rights  tends  to  have  a  moderating  influence  in  the 
interests  of  good  sense  and  public  discretion;  but 
it  is  clear  that  in  federal  matters  they  conflict  with 
the  rights  of  cantons,  and  tend  to  undermine  the 
influence  of  an  indispensable  balance  weight  in  our 
federative  organization.  For  this  reason  federal- 
ists must  always  look  very  closely  upon  any  pro- 
posal to  extend  them  merely  in  exchange  for  guar- 
antees which  are  not  always  easy  to  devise. 


ELECTION  OF  GOVERNMENT  BY  PEOPLE  155 

This  chapter  would  not  be  complete  if  I  gave 
no  details  of  the  way  in  which  officials  are  ap- 
pointed in  the  various  ranks  of  the  cantonal  and 
federal  governments.  In  the  Confederation  all 
officials  and  employees  are  appointed  by  the  Fed- 
eral Council  or  by  the  higher  officials  of  the  great 
federal  administrative  departments.  The  Fed- 
eral Court  appoints  the  staff  directly  dependent 
upon  it.  But  it  is  to  be  noticed  that,  except  in  the 
postal,  telegraph  and  telephone  services,  the  cus- 
toms and  the  railways,  the  federal  government  has 
few  direct  agents,  and  that  a  great  many  federal 
laws  are  administered  by  the  cantons.  The  lat- 
ter have  various  methods  of  appointment.  In 
German  Switzerland  direct  election  of  officials  is 
widespread.  Most  of  the  cantons  entrust  to  the 
people  the  election  of  the  prefects,  i.e.  the  local 
representatives  of  the  government  whose  business 
is  to  see  to  the  execution  of  the  laws.  The  same 
applies  to  the  election  of  registrars  and  occasion- 
ally of  notaries,  while  the  employees  of  the  can- 
tonal administration  proper  are  appointed  by  the 
government. 

The  appointment  of  the  judiciary  deserves  brief 
consideration  separately.  In  the  course  of  a  lec- 
ture at  Zurich  upon  democracy  in  the  administra- 
tion of  justice  Professor  Ziircher  said:  "Under 
democracy,  judges  are  appointed  directly  by  the 


156     REAL  DEMOCRACY  IN  OPERATION 

people;  authority  can  only  be  derived  from  the 
sovereign  people.  The  trust  of  the  people  is  the 
foundation  of  the  judge's  power,  and  this  trust 
stimulates  him  to  deserve  it.  The  higher  courts 
of  the  Confederation,  it  is  true,  are  elected  by  the 
representatives  of  the  people,  but  scarcely  a  man 
will  be  found  among  them  who  has  not  estab- 
lished his  reputation  either  in  the  lower  courts  or 
elsewhere." 

This  is,  indeed,  the  practice  prevailing  in  most 
cantons.  While  the  twenty-four  judges  of  the 
Federal  Court  are  elected  by  the  Federal  Assem- 
bly, the  members  of  federal  and  cantonal  juries 
are  chosen  by  popular  election.  The  majority  of 
cantons  have  their  higher  judges  elected  by  the 
legislature  and  the  others  by  the  people.  In  nearly 
all,  for  example,  justices  of  the  peace  are  ap- 
pointed directly  by  the  electorate.  The  case  is  the 
same  with  the  presidents  and  judges  of  district 
courts.  In  this  connection,  German  Switzerland 
goes  much  farther  than  French  Switzerland. 
Eight  years  ago  the  canton  of  Geneva  introduced 
the  direct  election  of  all  judicial  officers,  but  Neu- 
chatel  still  has  them  elected  by  the  Great  Coun- 
cil, with  the  exception  of  justices  of  the  peace. 
The  canton  of  Vaud  has  a  unique  system.  There 
the  cantonal  Court  is  elected  by  the  Great  Coun- 
cil, and  itself  appoints  all  the  other  judges  and 


judicial  functionaries,  including  the  Court  officers. 
In  their  appointment  it  usually  neglects  political 
considerations,  and  gives  a  large  place  to  the  mi- 
nority. The  system  of  Fribourg  differs  from  that 
of  Vaud  in  that  the  judges  are  nominated  by  a 
mixed  electoral  college  consisting  of  the  State 
Council  and  the  cantonal  Court. 

The  results  of  the  election  of  judges  by  the 
peoples  are  estimated  differently.  While  there 
exist  cantons  in  which  it  seems  to  occasion  no 
disputes,  there  are  others  in  which  the  elections 
are  fiercely  contested.  This  is  the  case  in  the 
city  of  Zurich,  where  the  elections  of  the  judiciary 
give  rise  to  intense  struggles  between  the  Socialists 
and  a  coalition  of  the  bourgeois  parties.  More 
than  once,  for  offices  which  require  the  very  mini- 
mum of  legal  knowledge,  the  Socialists  have  run 
candidates  whose  ignorance  of  the  law  was  com- 
plete, against  highly  qualified  jurists.  If  it  is  true 
that  impartiality  is  the  first  quality  of  a  judge, 
one  wonders  how  much  can  be  left  after  election 
campaigns,  in  the  course  of  which  the  bitterest 
party  spirit  and  the  strictest  party  discipline  are 
displayed.  The  last  judicial  elections  in  the  city 
of  Bern  have  presented  the  far  from  edifying  spec- 
tacle of  a  chief  justice  who  had  discharged  his 
functions  irreproachably,  ousted  by  a  Socialist  ma- 
jority with  no  consideration  for  merit  or  services 


158     REAL  DEMOCRACY  IN  OPERATION 

rendered.  Perhaps  these  disadvantages  will  di- 
minish when  the  new  parties  obtain  the  share  in 
the  judiciary  to  which  they  lay  claim ;  but  it  is  not 
certain.  In  Geneva,  where,  as  I  have  stated,  the 
appointment  of  judges  of  all  ranks  has  passed  to 
the  people,  a  group  of  candidates  drawn  from  all 
parties  was  returned  without  opposition  at  the 
general  election  of  1918.  At  the  outside  one- 
quarter  of  the  electorate  took  part  in  the  vote. 


CHAPTER  IX 

DEMOCRACY    IN    THE    COMMUNES    AND    THE 
CHURCHES 

THE  choosing  of  the  members  of  the  govern- 
ment, the  higher  officials  and  the  judiciary  does 
not  exhaust  the  rights  of  electors  in  the  cantons. 
There  must  be  added  the  elections  in  the  com- 
munes  and  the  Churches.  The  history  of  democ- 
racy in  these  two  institutions  might  furnish  ma- 
terial for  a  lengthy  and  interesting  chapter,  but  I 
can  only  touch  upon  it  and  indicate  a  few  of  the 
more  prominent  features. 

We  have  seen  how  Swiss  liberty  was  derived 
from  the  liberty  enjoyed  by  the  medieval  Ger- 
manic communes.  Communal  privileges  have  al- 
most disappeared  in  Germany,  but  they  persist  in 
Switzerland,  especially  in  German  Switzerland, 
where,  in  spite  of  the  close  supervision  of  the 
State,  the  commune  still  enjoys  a  wide  measure  of 
autonomy.  In  the  greater  part  of  French  Swit- 
zerland, the  commune,  springing  from  a  different 
conception,  is  much  more  restricted  in  its  freedom 
of  action.  It  is  rather  an  administrative  unit 


160     REAL  DEMOCRACY  IN  OPERATION 

bound  by  regulations  imposed  by  the  State  and  re- 
stricted to  functions  conferred  upon  it  by  the 
State.  In  many  communes  of  French-Switzerland, 
the  general  assembly  of  electors  has  fulfilled  its 
part  when  it  has  elected  the  communal  or  munic- 
ipal Council;  but  in  the  majority  of  the  com- 
munes of  German-Switzerland,  it  has  retained 
very  important  powers  and  remains  the  focus  of 
communal  life.  In  many  cantons,  it  differentiates 
into  separate  assemblies,  each  appointing  a  coun- 
cil according  as  it  deals  with  general  administra- 
tive business,  matters  concerning  only  enfran- 
chised citizens,  educational  or  ecclesiastical  affairs. 
The  importance  of  the  Swiss  communes  springs 
also  from  the  fact  that  almost  everywhere  the  ac- 
quisition of  burgess  rights  in  a  commune  is  an  es- 
sential condition  of  nationalization.  To  be  a  Swiss 
citizen,  a  man  must  first  be  a  burgess  of  a  com- 
mune and  a  citizen  of  a  canton. 

In  German-Switzerland,  the  administrative  au- 
thorities of  the  commune  are  usually  appointed  by 
the  general  assembly  of  electors.  This  is  prima- 
rily the  case  with  the  executive  council  of  the  com- 
mune, which  is  termed,  according  to  the  canton, 
town  Council,  communal  Council,  municipal  or  ad- 
ministrative Council.  It  also  applies  to  elemen- 
tary and  secondary  teachers.  Article  47  of  the 
Constitution  of  the  canton  of  Zurich  lays  down 


DEMOCRACY  IN  THE  COMMUNES      161 

that  the  commune  is  normally  to  be  divided  into  a 
political  commune,  an  ecclesiastical  commune  and 
an  educational  commune,  each  with  its  general 
assembly  of  electors  and  its  council.  All  citizens 
dwelling  in  the  commune  have  the  right  of  voting 
in  the  communal  assembly,  but  upon  questions 
concerning  the  relief  of  the  poor,  the  grant  of 
citizenship  and  the  administration  of  property  be- 
longing to  the  burgesses,  the  right  of  voting  is 
restricted  to  the  latter,  provided  they  are  resident 
in  the  canton.  Communal  property,  unless  be- 
longing specially  to  the  burgesses,  must  be  em- 
ployed in  the  first  instance  for  public  purposes. 
As  it  would  be  very  difficult  to  hold  a  general  as- 
sembly of  electors  in  communes  of  more  than 
10,000  inhabitants,  the  law  authorizes  a  special 
organization  for  the  latter.  For  the  large  towns 
of  the  canton,  a  communal  Great  Council,  the 
referendum,  the  initiative  and  election  by  secret 
ballot  take  the  place  of  the  general  assembly  of 
electors.  Notaries  are  elected  by  the  electors  of 
the  district  in  which  they  practice.  Besides  the 
communal  educational  authorities,  there  are  dis- 
trict educational  authorities,  also  elected  by  the 
people.  Teachers  in  State  schools  are  elected  by 
the  general  assembly  and  are  subject  to  reelection 
every  six  years. 

In  Lucerne,  the  right  of  electing  their  teachers 


162     REAL  DEMOCRACY  IN  OPERATION 

is  guaranteed  to  the  communes  by  Article  3  of 
the  Constitution.  Article  88  states  that  every 
political  commune  has  a  communal  assembly  and 
a  municipal  Council.  All  communal  officials  are 
elected  by  the  communal  assembly.  Besides  the 
commune  of  inhabitants,  the  political  commune, 
there  are  also  the  commune  of  burgesses,  the 
ecclesiastical  commune  (parish)  and  the  com- 
munes of  corporations,  as  they  are  called,  adminis- 
tering special  property.  Voting  is  by  show  of 
hands  or  secret  ballot.  A  number  of  German- 
speaking  cantons  possess  similar  institutions.  The 
different  species  of  communes  have  the  right  of 
imposing  taxes  according  to  their  requirements. 

In  the  canton  of  Bern,  the  important  affairs  of 
the  commune  are  submitted  to  the  assembly  of 
communal  electors;  the  holding  of  the  assembly 
can  be  replaced,  and  is  replaced  particularly  in  the 
larger  localities,  by  the  ballot  upon  either  all  the 
affairs  or  a  selection  of  them.  Populous  com- 
munes can  have  a  general  Council  to  determine  in 
advance  which  matters  shall  go  before  the  as- 
sembly and  even  to  dispose  of  certain  matters 
finally.  But,  in  general,  upon  any  important  ques- 
tion which  arises,  the  last  word  rests  with  the  as- 
sembly of  electors.  There  is  no  right  of  referen- 
dum upon  decisions  reached  by  the  general  Coun- 
cil or  the  communal  Council  upon  matters  within 


DEMOCRACY  IN  THE  COMMUNES      163 

their  sovereign  competence,  and  initiatives,  which 
must  be  supported  by  one-tenth  at  least  of  the 
electorate,  may  only  refer  to  subjects  which  come 
within  the  competence  of  the  general  assembly. 

In  Basel-Stadt,  canton  and  commune  have  a 
single  administration.  In  Grisons,  as  in  Zurich, 
we  find  district  administrations  (administrations 
de  cercle],  intermediate  between  the  canton  and 
the  commune,  elected  by  the  people,  discharging 
certain  political  and  administrative  functions  and 
invested  with  the  right  of  levying  taxes.  Valais 
possesses  the  institution  known  as  the  District 
Council,  composed  of  delegates  from  the  com- 
munes and  presided  over  by  the  prefect.  The 
Constitution  of  this  canton  provides  for  each  com- 
mune a  primary  assembly,  consisting  of  all  citi- 
zens qualified  to  vote  according  to  the  federal 
Constitution,  a  communal  Council  (municipalite) 
and  an  assembly  of  burgesses.  The  primary  as- 
sembly may  appoint,  in  addition  to  the  communal 
Council,  a  general  Council  with  wider  powers 
whose  functions  are  determined  by  law.  In  the 
French-speaking  cantons,  the  separation  of  polit- 
ical and  educational  communes  is  unknown.  The 
commune  of  inhabitants  forms  a  unit  which,  in 
the  cantons  of  Neuchatel,  Vaud,  and  Geneva,  ad- 
ministers also  the  property  of  the  burgesses,  so 
carefully  separated  from  other  matters  in  the 


164    REAL  DEMOCRACY  IN  OPERATION 

German-Swiss  cantons.  By  a  provision  which  we 
meet  again  in  the  Constitution  of  Ausserrhoden, 
the  Constitution  of  Vaud  forbids  communes 
which  impose  taxes  or  whose  accounts  com- 
monly show  a  balance  on  the  wrong  side  to  dis- 
tribute the  revenue  from  communal  property  in 
any  form  or  under  any  pretext  whatever.  The  in- 
come from  burgess  property  must  before  every- 
thing be  used  to  meet  the  liabilities  of  the  com- 
munes. 

In  many  French-speaking  cantons,  the  executive 
authority  of  the  commune  is  elected,  not  by  the 
people,  but  by  the  communal  Council.  Neuchatel 
permits  a  general  assembly  of  the  commune  where 
the  population  does  not  reach  the  minimum  figure 
prescribed  by  law.  In  the  canton  of  Vaud,  the 
system  is  as  follows:  in  every  commune  with  a 
population  not  exceeding  800  souls,  there  is  a 
general  Council  comprising  all  the  electors  of  the 
commune,  and  in  the  others  a  communal  Council 
of  at  least  45  and  not  more  than  100  members 
appointed  for  four  years.  The  general  Council 
in  small  communes  and  the  communal  Council  in 
the  others  nominates  the  governing  body  and  the 
latter  appoints  all  other  officials.  Thus  in  small 
communes  the  system  is  democratic,  and  in  large 
communes  representative.  In  imitation  of  the 
organization  prevailing  in  the  large  communes  of 


DEMOCRACY  IN  THE  COMMUNES      165 

German  Switzerland,  the  canton  of  Geneva  has 
introduced  the  referendum  upon  communal  mat- 
ters, but  only  in  the  optional  form.  The  decisions 
of  communal  Councils,  or  municipal  Councils  as 
they  are  called  in  Geneva,  are  submitted  for  the 
approval  of  the  electors  of  the  commune  when  a 
demand  to  that  effect  is  supported  by  1,200  elec- 
tors for  the  town  of  Geneva,  by  one-fifth  of  the 
electors  for  the  three  suburban  communes  and  the 
town  of  Carouge  and  by  one-third  for  other  com- 
munes. In  Neuchatel  the  law  upon  communes 
makes  provision  for  both  the  initiative  and  the 
referendum  upon  questions  of  taxation,  financial 
engagements  and  important  matters,  when  the 
demand  is  presented  by  a  number  of  electors  equiv- 
alent to  five  per  cent,  of  the  total  population  of 
the  commune. 

To  the  above  outline  of  the  organization  of 
communes  in  the  Swiss  cantons,  I  shall  add  some 
particulars  of  the  organization  of  the  Church, 
with  which,  as  we  have  seen,  it  is  rather  inti- 
mately associated  in  many  cantons.  From  what  I 
have  said  about  the  cantons  possessing  a  Lands- 
gemeinde,  it  will  have  been  gathered  already  that 
the  electors  of  the  small  Catholic  cantons  have  re- 
tained in  ecclesiastical  matters  rights  of  some 
importance.  The  present  tendency  of  the  Catho- 
lic Church  is  to  restrict  as  much  as  possible  the 


166     REAL  DEMOCRACY  IN  OPERATION 

electoral  rights  of  parishes  over  their  spiritual 
pastors,  but  where  such  traditional  rights  exist, 
they  are  defended  tenaciously  by  those  who  enjoy 
them. 

A  distinction  must,  of  course,  be  made  here  be- 
tween established  Protestant  Churches  and  the 
Roman  Catholic  Church.  In  all  the  cantons  where 
exists  a  Protestant  Church  wholly  or  partially 
maintained  by  the  State,  the  parishes  elect  their 
pastors  or  at  least  present  them  for  appointment 
to  the  government  of  the  canton.  With  the  Cath- 
olic Church,  the  mode  of  procedure  is  not  uni- 
form. In  some  cantons,  the  election  of  priests  by 
the  people  was  imposed  by  the  State  and  accepted 
by  the  Church  after  prolonged  resistance,  which 
reduced  the  election  in  reality  to  a  mere  form.  In 
others,  the  election  is  a  secular  right,  recognized 
by  the  ecclesiatical  authorities.  In  other  places, 
the  bishop  of  the  diocese  presents  and  the  govern- 
ment appoints  the  priest  presented.  Elsewhere 
again,  the  bishop  enjoys  the  right  of  appointment 
exclusively. 

The  Confederation  does  not  interfere  in  Church 
affairs  except  to  enforce  the  rights  of  the  State 
asserted  in  the  federal  Constitution,  where  the 
proclamation  of  liberty  of  conscience  and  of  wor- 
ship, the  prohibition  of  new  monastic  foundations 
and  of  the  creation  of  new  bishoprics  save  with 


DEMOCRACY  IN  THE  COMMUNES      167 

the  consent  of  the  federal  authorities,  provisions 
relating  to  the  marriage  law,  the  civil  status  of  the 
clergy  and  burials,  and  the  exclusion  of  the  Society 
of  Jesus  recall  the  fierce  religious  contests  of  past 
ages.  As  for  the  cantons,  although  there  is  no- 
where a  State  Church,  there  are  many  appreciable 
variations  in  the  connection  of  Church  and  State. 
A  professor  of  the  University  of  Fribourg,  M. 
Lampert,  classifies  the  cantons  as  follows :  cantons 
which  compel  religious  bodies  to  be  self-support- 
ing, viz.  Uri,  Schwyz,  Obwalden,  Nidwalden,  Zug, 
Appenzell-A-R.  and  Appenzell-I-R.,  Valais, 
Glarus,  Grisons,  St.  Gall,  Thurgau ;  cantons  which 
lend  aid  to  the  Church  on  the  basis  of  special 
rights,  viz.  Lucerne,  Ticino,  Aargau,  Vaud,  Solo- 
thurn;  cantons  which  have  a  national  Church 
maintained  by  the  State,  viz.  Bern,  Schaffhausen, 
Basel-Land;  cantons  which  contribute  equally  to 
both  confessions,  viz.  Fribourg.  To  this  list 
must  be  added  the  two  cantons  which  did  away 
with  their  financial  assistance  to  religious  bodies  a 
few  years  ago,  viz.  Basel-Stadt  and  Geneva.  But 
this  classification  may  be  disputed.  The  special 
rights  of  which  the  Fribourg  professor  speaks  do 
not  find  a  place  in  all  the  Constitutions  and,  par- 
ticularly in  the  canton  of  Vaud,  are  historical 
rather  than  legal  in  character.  In  Neuchatel,  on 
the  other  hand,  a  certain  endowment  is  guaranteed 


168     REAL  DEMOCRACY  IN  OPERATION 

to  the  Church  in  the  event  of  disestablishment, 
and  in  Fribourg  most  parishes  subsist  on  their  own 
revenue. 

The  Constitution  of  Zurich  lays  down  in  Article 
23  that  the  evangelical  National  Church  and  other 
ecclesiastical  corporations  administer  their  own 
affairs  subject  to  the  supervision  of  the  State. 
The  organization  of  the  National  Church  is  regu- 
lated by  law,  which,  however,  ensures  complete 
freedom  of  conscience.  In  general  the  State  meets 
the  expenditure  for  religious  purposes.  The  par- 
ishes elect  their  ministers  and  those  of  Churches 
which  receive  financial  support  from  the  State 
must  offer  themselves  for  reelection  every  six 
years,  a  provision  which  applies  also  to  Catholic 
parishes.  The  Constitution  of  the  canton  of  Zug 
prescribes  in  Article  72  that  ecclesiastical  general 
assemblies  (comprising  all  Catholic  electors)  are 
empowered  to  elect  priests  and  parish  Councils. 
The  parish  (Kirchgemeinde)  has  the  right  to  vote 
taxes  when  the  income  from  its  property  does  not 
suffice  to  cover  the  expenditure  on  religious  ob- 
jects. Solothurn,  a  canton  which  is  three  parts 
Catholic  but  the  Constitution  of  which  was  drawn 
up  by  a  Radical  majority,  includes,  by  Article  20, 
among  the  electoral  rights  of  the  people  that  of 
the  appointment  of  clergy  (parish  priests,  curates, 
ministers,  etc.)  by  the  members  of  their  sect.  In 


DEMOCRACY  IN  THE  COMMUNES      169 

Basel-Stadt,  the  State  maintenance  of  religion  has 
been  abolished,  but  churches  which  submit  to 
supervision  as  determined  by  the  cantonal  law 
and  have  a  democratic  organization,  are  recog- 
nized as  constitutional  corporations  and  author- 
ized to  raise  taxes;  this,  however,  is  not  the  case 
with  the  Roman  Catholic  community  of  Basel.  In 
Schaffhausen,  ecclesiastical  constitutional  corpora- 
tions have  their  independent  organization,  which 
must  be  approved  by  the  State,  and  ministers  are 
elected  by  the  congregations  from  candidates  who 
have  passed  the  State  examination.  In  the 
"mixed"  canton  of  St.  Gall,  the  ecclesiastical  au- 
thorities of  both  faiths  administer  their  own  purely 
religious  or  ecclesiastical  affairs.  The  organiza- 
tion which  they  adopt  must  be  sanctioned  by  the 
Great  Council.  In  Grisons,  both  national 
Churches,  Protestant  and  Catholic,  are  recognized 
by  the  State.  The  Constitution  confers  upon 
parishes  the  right  of  electing  their  clergy. 

The  "mixed"  canton  of  Aargau  empowers 
parishes  to  collect  taxes  from  their  church-mem- 
bers. The  parishes  elect  their  ministers  or  priests 
out  of  a  list  of  clergy  declared  eligible  by  the 
State.  Synods  consisting  of  laymen  and  clergy 
administer  the  affairs  of  the  Church  under  the 
supervision  of  the  State.  The  latter  takes  any 
steps  necessary  to  prevent  encroachment  by  the 


iyo     REAL  DEMOCRACY  IN  OPERATION 

Church.  In  the  great  canton  of  Bern,  where  the 
Catholic  Jura  has  been  the  scene  of  acute  religious 
conflicts,  section  84  of  the  Constitution  recognizes 
the  Reformed  Evangelical,  the  Roman  Catholic 
and  the  Christian  Catholic  (Old  Catholics)  as  na- 
tional Churches  in  the  parishes  belonging  to  those 
faiths.  Parishes  have  the  right  of  electing  their 
clergy,  but  the  Roman  Catholics  elect  the  candi- 
date chosen  by  the  hierarchy.  Taxes  to  meet 
religious  expenditure  are  paid  by  the  adherents 
of  each  faith. 

The  canton  of  Fribourg,  which  includes  a 
Protestant  district,  that  of  Morat,  proclaims  in 
section  2  of  its  Constitution  that  the  Roman 
Catholic  Apostolic  religion  is  that  of  the  ma- 
jority of  the  people,  and  guarantees  its  free 
exercise  and  also  that  of  the  reformed  evangelical 
religion.  The  relations  between  the  State  and  the 
Catholic  Church  in  matters  concerning  both,  which 
have  given  or  might  give  rise  to  conflicts,  are 
determined  by  a  concordat  between  the  two  au- 
thorities. The  powers  of  the  ecclesiastical  author- 
ities in  the  Protestant  part  of  the  canton  are  regu- 
lated by  law.  The  State  exercises  a  general  su- 
pervision over  public  education  which  is  organized 
and  directed  in  a  religious  and  patriotic  spirit. 
Effective  cooperation  in  this  matter  is  assured  to 
the  clergy.  Expenditure  by  the  cantonal  ex- 


DEMOCRACY  IN  THE  COMMUNES      171 

chequer  upon  religious  and  educational  objects  in 
excess  of  existing  foundations,  is  to  be  appor- 
tioned equitably  between  the  two  confessions.  In 
Valais,  the  Great  Council  has  hitherto  elected  the 
bishop  of  the  diocese  in  virtue  of  a  traditional 
right.  Rome  formally  annuls  the  election,  but 
appoints  the  candidate  elected  by  the  Great  Coun- 
cil upon  presentation  by  the  Chapter. 

In  Neuchatel,  the  Constitution  declares  that  the 
law  can  never  recognize  or  establish  independent, 
sovereign  corporations  and  that  any  change  in  the 
fundamental  basis  of  the  present  ecclesiastical  or- 
ganization shall  be  submitted  to  the  people  for 
ratification.  The  case  occurred  a  few  years  ago 
when  a  large  majority  of  the  people  refused  to 
abolish  the  State's  support  of  religion.  The  Con- 
stitution of  Vaud  gives  protection  to  the  national 
evangelical  Church  throughout  the  canton  and 
also  to  the  Catholic  religion  as  practiced  up  to 
the  present  in  the  "mixed"  district  of  Echallens. 
The  clergy  of  this  district,  in  common  with  the 
rest,  are  paid  by  the  State.  Protestant  pastors  are 
presented  by  the  parishes  and  appointed  by  the 
State.  Parish  priests  are  presented  by  the  Roman 
Catholic  bishop  of  the  diocese. 

I  do  not  think  that  this  brief  summary  of  the 
ecclesiastical  institutions  of  Switzerland  is  out  of 
place  in  a  general  survey  of  the  democratic  life 


172     REAL  DEMOCRACY  IN  OPERATION 

of  the  country.  Its  diversity  presents  a  striking 
contrast  with  the  unity  of  the  ecclesiastical  organ- 
ization in  neighboring  great  States. 

After  this  account  of  the  rights  of  the  Swiss 
elector  in  the  Confederation,  cantons,  communes 
and  churches,  some  idea  may  be  gathered  of  the 
meaning  of  direct  democracy  in  the  cantons  where 
it  has  reached  its  highest  development.  In  the 
towns  of  Bern  and  Zurich,  for  instance,  the  elec- 
tor is  summoned  to  the  polling  booth  to  elect  depu- 
ties in  the  Federal  Chambers,  federal  and  can- 
tonal jurymen,  deputies  to  the  Great  Council,  the 
members  of  the  government,  district  judicial 
authorities,  prefects,  civil  servants,  teachers  and 
communal,  educational  and  other  authorities;  he 
votes  upon  constitutional  proposals  and  federal 
laws  and  decrees  placed  before  him  by  means 
of  the  referendum  and  the  initiative;  he  votes 
twice  a  year,  sometimes  oftener,  upon  constitu- 
tional changes,  laws  and  other  matters  within  the 
scope  of  the  compulsory  cantonal  referendum  and 
the  initiative;  he  votes  upon  proposals  origi- 
nating in  the  Council  of  the  commune;  if  he  joins 
a  Church,  he  elects  its  clergy;  if  he  is  a  member 
of  the  body  of  burgesses,  he  elects  the  Council  of 
burgesses.  Add  to  this  the  fact  that  in  many 
cantons  voting  is  compulsory,  and  an  idea  will  be 
gained  of  what  the  status  of  full  citizenship  in- 


DEMOCRACY  IN  THE  COMMUNES      173 

volves  for  the  conscientious  voter  who  wishes  to 
take  upon  himself  the  study,  at  least  in  a  general 
way,  of  the  proposals  submitted  to  him  or  to  merit 
the  praise  which  Montesquieu  gave  to  the  people 
for  being  admirable  in  the  choice  of  those  to 
whom  it  entrusts  a  portion  of  its  authority.  Nor 
must  the  time  be  forgotten  which  the  elector 
spends  in  listening  to  lectures  and  speeches  by  the 
orators  of  his  party;  then,  again,  one  must  take 
into  account  all  the  minute  and  interminable  detail 
of  preparatory  electoral  work,  conferences  and 
committees,  action  in  the  Press  .  .  .  and  it  will 
be  agreed  that  it  is  no  sinecure  to  play  the  least 
active  political  part  in  the  small  Swiss  democra- 
cies. From  time  to  time,  certain  signs  of  weari- 
ness are  noticeable,  but  on  the  whole  Swiss  doctors 
seem  hitherto  not  to  have  had  many  cases  of  neu- 
rasthenia due  to  electoral  overstrain.  Neverthe- 
less, mention  should  be  made  of  the  small  propor- 
tion of  voters,  in  the  cantons  where  voting  is  not 
compulsory,  when  the  proposals  or  the  candidates 
at  an  election  arouse  but  little  opposition. 


CHAPTER  X 


I  HAVE  referred  almost  invariably  to  the  rights 
of  the  people  in  Switzerland.  This  is  not  a  very 
exact  expression.  One  should  speak  rather  of  the 
rights  of  the  electorate,  which  does  not  include' 
women,  young  men  under  twenty  years  of  age, 
foreigners,  or  bankrupts,  at  least  in  many  cantons. 
According  to  the  last  census,  the  population  of 
Switzerland  is  upwards  of  3,885,500;  but  the 
number  of  electors  is  about  900,000.  Among 
those  who  do  not  vote  are  many  who  wish  to 
vote  but  cannot;  but  there  are  also  some  who 
have  the  vote  but  do  not  care  to  use  it.  In  order 
to  compel  the  latter  class  to  record  their  vote, 
many  cantons  have  instituted  compulsory  voting. 

The  idea  is  not  modern.  The  great  philos- 
opher, Plato,  advocated  it  in  the  Laws,  but,  aris- 
tocrat as  he  was,  he  desired  to  restrict  compulsory 
voting  to  the  upper  classes,  so  that  they  might 
enjoy  the  influence  to  which,  according  to  him, 
their  culture  and  deserts  entitled  them.  He  re- 
garded the  vote,  not  as  a  personal  right,  but  as  a 

174 


COMPULSORY  VOTING  175 

civic  duty,  and  many  great  thinkers  and  learned 
jurists  of  our  own  time  adopt  his  view.  The  ques- 
tion is  whether  the  right  of  voting  is  a  mere  indi- 
vidual right,  which  the  citizen  is  at  liberty  to  use 
as  he  thinks  fit,  or  whether  it  is  a  social  function 
performed  for  the  benefit  of  the  community,  in 
which  case  compulsion  is  entirely  justified.  To  me 
it  is  clear  that  the  vote  is  a  function  and  that  ab- 
stention by  electors,  whether  from  apathy  or  any 
other  cause,  is  incompatible  with  a  healthy  democ- 
racy; but  I  shall  be  told  that  the  vote  of  an  elector 
cast  under  compulsion  is  practically  valueless, 
which  is  irrefutably  true.  On  the  other  hand, 
compulsory  voting  has  an  unquestionable  educa- 
tional value.  It  forces  the  elector  to  reflect  upon 
the  questions  presented  to  him  and  gives  him  a 
vivid  realization  of  one  of  the  most  important 
civic  duties. 

Hitherto,  compulsory  voting  has  not  penetrated 
into  French-speaking  Switzerland.  Neuchatel 
has  recorded  it  in  its  Constitution  without  attach- 
ing any  sanction  to  it,  which  amounts  to  as  much  as 
if  it  had  been  omitted  entirely.  Attempts  to 
introduce  it  in  the  canton  of  Vaud  have  failed  in 
the  Great  Council.  On  the  other  hand,  compul- 
sory voting  is  in  operation  in  a  number  of  cantons 
in  German  Switzerland.  In  Ausserrhoden  as 
we  have  seen,  whoever  does  not  attend  the 


176     REAL  DEMOCRACY  IN  OPERATION 

Landsgemeinde  is  mulcted  in  a  fine  of  10  francs. 
The  results  of  compulsory  voting  are  best  seen  in 
the  cantons  of  Aargau,  St.  Gall,  Solothurn,  Thur- 
gau,  Schaffhausen  and  Zurich.  The  electorates  of 
Basel-Stadt  and  Grisons  have  refused  to  adopt  it 
quite  recently.  In  the  canton  of  Zurich  it  exists 
in  an  attenuated  form :  every  elector  is  required  to 
return  the  envelope  which  serves  for  purposes  of 
identification,  either  empty  or  with  the  voting 
paper  enclosed,  within  an  interval  of  two  days,  in 
default  of  which  the  envelope  is  collected  from 
the  house,  together  with  a  penalty  of  one  franc 
at  most,  by  an  agent  of  the  local  authority.  In 
Schaffhausen,  defaulters  are  punished  by  a  fine  of 
one  franc;  in  St.  Gall  the  fine  is  two  francs;  in 
Aargau  from  one  to  four  francs,  and  in  Thurgau 

two  francs. 

\  ' 

The  fine  is  the  simplest  and  most  convenient 
method,  but  it  is  argued  that  injustice  is  involved 
if  it  is  the  same  for  all,  without  reference  to  the 
character  of  the  fault  committed.  Opponents  of 
the  fine  contend  that  any  monetary  sanction  is 
degrading  to  the  civic  duty,  and  that  a  better 
procedure  would  be  to  give  publicity  to  the  list 
of  those  who  failed  to  vote  without  good  excuse, 
punish  them  by  placarding  their  names,  and  upon 
repetition  of  the  offense,  deprive  them  of  the 


COMPULSORY  VOTING  177 

vote,  temporarily  or  permanently,  and  then  dis- 
qualify them  from  public  office. 

Compulsory  voting  is  one  of  the  subjects  upon 
which  there  is  least  agreement  among  parties. 
Each  of  them  is  afraid  of  its  results  in  practice, 
and  as  the  theorists  are  divided,  the  problem  re- 
mains undecided  in  some  of  the  cantons. 

One  method  of  increasing  the  proportion  of 
voters  would  be  to  institute  woman  suffrage.  In 
all  probability  men  would  vote  more  zealously 
under  fear  of  being  out-voted  by  the  feminine 
element.  But  this  solution  has  found  little  favor 
and  the  supporters  of  woman  suffrage  have  to 
admit  that  the  progressive  tendencies  of  Swiss 
legislators  do  not  carry  them  in  this  direction. 
Everyone  recognizes  the  admirable  qualities  of 
the  Swiss  woman.  She  is  usually  hard-working, 
thrifty  and  trustworthy,  and  the  history  of  Swit- 
zerland from  the  earliest  days  of  independence  on- 
wards records  noteworthy  instances  of  feminine 
heroism;  but  the  general  opinion  still  seems  to  be 
that  the  problem  of  the  division  of  labor  between 
men  and  women  is  more  satisfactorily  solved  by 
the  restriction  of  civic  duties  to  men  than  by  the 
entry  of  women  into  the  stormy  sphere  of  politics. 
Guizot  used  to  say  that  politics  was  not  a  business 
for  saints.  Feminists  urge  that  women  would  ex- 
ercise a  purifying  influence  upon  politics,  while 


178     REAL  DEMOCRACY  IN  OPERATION 

anti-feminists  believe  that  she  would  sacrifice 
something  of  her  dignity  and  her  indefinable 
charm.  The  successes  of  woman  suffrage  in 
Switzerland  have  been  extremely  modest.  Some 
years  ago,  the  canton  of  Vaud  granted  to  women 
the  right  of  participating  in  the  election  of  clergy 
and  of  Parish  Councils.  In  1916  Neuchatel  fol- 
lowed the  same  example.  Geneva  has  done  like- 
wise. But  nowhere  have  women  obtained  the 
political  franchise  proper.  The  extension  of  the 
vote  to  women  meets  with  resistance  particularly 
in  rural  and  Catholic  cantons.  If  Switzerland  fol- 
lows the  movement  in  favor  of  woman  suffrage 
which  has  become  apparent  in  certain  countries 
since  the  war,  it  will  doubtless  be  by  slow  degrees. 
The  day  when  the  women  of  Switzerland  take  part 
in  the  election  of  the  National  Council  still  seems 
far  off. 

On  the  other  hand,  there  is  a  tendency  to  give 
some  place  to  women  in  the  government  of 
schools.  The  canton  of  Vaud  has  made  women 
eligible  for  education  committees,  and  the  in- 
stance is  not  isolated.  It  should  be  added  that 
the  new  Swiss  Civil  Code  has  brought  about  a 
considerable  improvement  in  the  social  position 
of  women,  which  is  hardly  comparable  with  what 
it  was  fifty  years  ago.  The  age  has  passed  away 
when  Shakespeare  could  end  The  Taming  of  the 


COMPULSORY  VOTING  179 

Shrew  by  putting  into  Katherina's  mouth  the 
words : 

Thy   husband   is  thy   lord,  thy   life,   thy   keeper, 

Thy  head,  thy  sovereign ;  one  that  cares  for  thee, 

And  for  thy  maintenance  commits  his  body 

To  painful  labor  both  by  sea  and  land, 

To  watch  the  night  in  storms,  the  day  in  cold, 

Whilst  thou  liest  warm  at  home,  secure  and  safe; 

And  craves  no  other  tribute  at  thy  hands 

But  love,   fair   looks,   and   true  obedience; 

Too  little  payment  for  so  great  a  debt. 

Such  duty  as  the  subject  owes  the  prince, 

Even  such  a  woman  oweth  to  her  husband  .  .  . 

I  am  ashamed  that  women  are  so  simple 

To  offer  war  where  they  should  kneel  for  peace, 

Or  seek  for  rule,  supremacy,  and  sway, 

When  they  are  bound  to  serve,  love,  and  obey. 

Modern  life  makes  greater  demands  upon  women 
than  did  life  in  the  age  of  the  poet  who  is  re- 
puted to  have  plumbed  the  uttermost  depths  of 
human  nature. 


CHAPTER  XI 

PROPORTIONAL  REPRESENTATION 

IF  woman  suffrage  has  hitherto  obtained  little 
success  in  Switzerland,  the  same  cannot  be  said  of 
the  much  discussed  electoral  system  of  propor- 
tional representation.  Although  proportional  rep- 
resentation was  first  advocated  outside  Switzer- 
land and  the  earliest  experiments  with  it  were  con- 
ducted elsewhere,  in  no  other  country  has  it  been 
more  widely  canvassed  or  played  so  large  a  part 
in  the  political  controversies  of  the  last  quarter  of 
a  century.  For  over  forty  years  it  has  been  a 
burning  question  and  its  advocates  have  carried  on 
a  persistent  propaganda  to  translate  it  from 
theory  to  practice.  The  Basel  physicist  Hagen- 
bach-Bischoff  in  German  Switzerland  and  the 
philosopher  Ernest  Naville  in  French  Switzerland 
were  its  great  apostles  who  contributed  improve- 
ments in  the  system  or  rather  systems — for  they 
are  many — which  permitted  its  adoption.  Al- 
though I  believe  in  the  representation  of  minori- 
ties in  legislative  bodies,  I  am  not  a  supporter  of 
proportional  representation.  I  recognize  that  it 

180 


PROPORTIONAL  REPRESENTATION     181 

has  certain  advantages,  but  they  seem  to  me  to  be 
outweighed  by  the  disadvantages.  I  have  not  yet 
been  persuaded  that  it  is  a  triumph  of  democ- 
racy, and  I  am  not  surprised  that  M.  Clemenceau 
describes  it  as  the  negation  of  universal  suffrage. 
Having  said  so  much,  I  am  obliged  to  describe  the 
continual  progress  which  it  makes  in  Switzerland, 
together  with  the  fact  that  its  successes  follow 
more  or  less  closely  upon  extensions  of  popular 
rights.  Minorities  use  it  to  safeguard  their  rights, 
and  almost  always  include  it  among  the  items  of 
their  program. 

The  objections,  however,  which  may  be  brought 
against  proportional  representation  are  very 
weighty,  and  in  Switzerland  as  in  France  have 
been  advanced  in  the  most  authoritative  quarters. 
Its  supporters  look  upon  it  above  all  as  an  appli- 
cation of  justice  to  electoral  matters.  A  French 
philosopher,  whose  works  are  permeated  with  the 
idea  of  justice,  M.  Renouvier,  has  nevertheless 
opposed  proportional  representation  in  his  ex- 
cellent work  on  ethics.  "Doubtless,  public  men 
who  are  concerned  for  the  representation  of 
minorities,  have  good  reasons  for  holding  that 
opinions,  whether  in  a  minority  or  not,  should  be 
represented.  There  are  equally  good  arguments 
for  the  position  which  I  take  up.  In  general  it 
must  be  admitted  that  every  opinion  engendered  in 


182     REAL  DEMOCRACY  IN  OPERATION 

the  free  play  of  social  intercourse  or  otherwise, 
upon  reaching  a  certain  degree  of  plausibility,  can 
obtain  publicity  through  the  advocacy  of  an  indi- 
vidual who  receives  a  legislative  mandate  from 
other  individuals;  and  if  this  is  not  the  case,  it 
seems  desirable  that  an  opinion  should  be  sub- 
jected to  the  preliminary  process  of  preparation 
and  discussion  instead  of  entering,  as  it  were,  in 
its  own  right,  into  an  assembly  in  which  it  will 
cause  added  confusion  without  any  corresponding 
advantage.  The  right  of  representation  belongs, 
like  every  other  right,  to  persons  and  not  to  ideas, 
and  no  idea  which  lacks  the  strength  to  survive 
the  test  of  the  representation  of  persons  is  entitled 
to  aspire  to  any  social  function.  It  must  in  that 
case  be  satisfied  with  the  ordinary  channels  for 
the  propagation  of  ideas." 

To  the  question,  what  would  happen  if  the 
proportional  principle  were  rigidly  applied,  M. 
Renouvier  rejoins:  "Opinions,  special  interests, 
exclusive  proposals,  progressive  and  reactionary 
schools  of  thought,  would  all  organize  groups  of 
electors  of  the  required  number  and  often  succeed 
in  electing  their  candidates.  Elections  would  at- 
tain a  remarkable  degree  of  sincerity.  But  the 
result  would  be  an  anarchical  assembly,  which 
would  not  reflect  the  average  of  opinions  and  de- 
sires, and  which,  through  its  consequent  inability 


PROPORTIONAL  REPRESENTATION     183 

to  perform  its  legislative  function,  would  soon 
give  place  to  some  form  of  usurped  authority. 
Instead  of  the  representation  of  the  common  weal 
of  the  inhabitants  as  individuals,  it  would  amount 
in  effect  to  an  excitement  and  accentuation  of 
every  separatist  tendency,  to  the  assembly  in  a 
single  body  of  the  most  irreconcilable  factions, 
charged  with  the  task  of  reconciling  all  the 
rest."  .  .  . 

Renouvier  speaks  as  a  philosopher.  Let  us  now 
examine  the  view  of  a  politician  who  has  played 
no  mean  part  in  Swiss  affairs,  and  whom  I  have 
already  had  occasion  to  quote.  Numa  Droz,  a 
former  president  of  the  Confederation,  wrote: 

"The  idea  which  should  govern  the  whole  ques- 
tion is  that  the  deputy  is  before  all  the  representa- 
tive of  his  constituency  in  its  entirety;  in  some 
quarters  this  idea  is  not  recognized  with  sufficient 
clearness,  with  the  consequences  that  the  spirit  of 
tolerance  and  justice  is  still  so  conspicuous  by  its 
absence  in  parliamentary  assemblies.  To  speak 
frankly,  parties  exist  and  always  will  exist  with 
their  passions  and  prejudices.  That  is  inevitable, 
but  in  my  opinion  precautions  should  be  taken  not 
to  give  them  a  legal  or  constitutional  standing; 
both  electors  and  elected  should,  on  the  contrary, 
be  persuaded  that  their  social  function  is  to  work 


184     REAL  DEMOCRACY  IN  OPERATION 

for  the  good  of  the  nation  as  a  whole,  and  not 
merely  for  selfish  party  triumphs. 

"There  are  some  who  cherish  the  idea  of  form- 
ing a  parliament  of  all  kinds  of  minorities,  which 
would  render  the  formation  of  a  governmental 
majority  almost  impossible.  Personally,  I  am 
convinced  that  the  first  essential  for  a  people  is 
to  know  whither  it  is  going.  .  .  .  M.  Alfred 
Fouillee,  a  writer  whom  no  one  will  accuse  of 
authoritarianism,  well  says:  'A  parliament  is  not 
a  mere  consultative  Council,  a  sort  of  academy 
in  which  a  hearing  is  given  to  all  opinions  out 
of  platonic  affection  for  truth ;  on  the  contrary,  all 
its  proceedings  have  to  do  with  action  and  lead 
up  to  execution.' .  Now  excessive  multiplication  of 
parties  results  in  neither  action  nor  execution,  but 
in  negation.  The  Swiss  people  would  find  it  a 
most  disgusting  spectacle  to  see  the  parties  in  the 
Federal  Assembly  reduce  one  another  to  power- 
lessness  through  their  internecine  strife.  .  .  ." 

To  these  considerations  may  be  added  the  ob- 
servation of  M.  Esmein  in  his  Elements  de  droit 
constltutionnel:  "While  in  the  nineteenth  century 
events  tended  to  make  the  deputy  the  representa- 
tive of  the  whole  nation  and  to  do  away  with  the 
imperative  mandate,  proportional  representation 
is  a  step  in  the  opposite  direction.  It  reduces  the 


PROPORTIONAL  REPRESENTATION     185 

mandate  to  a  party  mandate  and  tends  in  fact  to 
reintroduce  the  imperative  mandate.' 

There  is  justice  in  the  observation.  Such  a 
mathematically  exact  representation  of  parties, 
even  of  the  most  ridiculous  and  most  detestable, 
would  render  meaningless  Article  23  of  the  Con- 
stitution of  Bern,  which  asserts  that  the  members 
of  the  Great  Council  are  the  representatives  of 
the  whole  people  and  not  of  the  wards  which  elect 
them. 

The  advance  of  proportional  representation  in 
Switzerland  is  primarily  due  to  the  growth  of  the 
Socialist  party  and  the  divisions  which  have  oc- 
curred in  the  older  parties.  So  long  as  there 
were  only  two  main  parties,  the  idea  made  scarcely 
any  headway.  The  occasions  were  very  infrequent 
when  a  minority  was  not  more  or  less  adequately 
represented.  Its  ambition  was  not  to  obtain  a  few 
additional  representatives,  but  to  transform  itself 
into  a  majority.  Since,  in  some  cantons,  three, 
four  and  even  five  parties  have  come  into  being, 
points  of  view  have  changed.  Minorities  now 
make  it  their  chief  aim  to  be  represented  propor- 
tionally and  to  throw  their  whole  weight  into  the 
parliamentary  balance,  and  do  not  hesitate  to 
form  the  most  startling  coalitions  to  achieve  their 
purpose. 

The  first  triumph  of  proportional  representa- 


186     REAL  DEMOCRACY  IN  OPERATION 

tion  in  Switzerland  is  an  interesting  story.  It  oc- 
(curred  in  1891  in  the  canton  of  Ticino.  In  the 
preceding  year,  the  Catholic-Conservative  admin- 
istration* in  this  canton  had  been  overthrown  by  a 
revolution,  in  the  course  of  which  one  of  the 
members  of  the  government  was  killed.  The  Lib- 
eral party  complained  bitterly  that  the  adminis- 
tration of  justice  provided  no  security  for  the  op- 
position in  matters  nearly  or  remotely  connected 
with  politics.  It  raised  a  great  outcry  against  a 
redistribution  of  seats  which  reduced  it  to  a  small 
minority  in  the  Great  Council,  while  it  believed 
it  had  the  majority  of  the  people  with  it.  The 
tension  between  the  parties  was  extreme.  At  this 
point,  the  Federal  Councilor,  Louis  Ruchonnet, 
brought  his  powerful  influence  to  bear  to  induce 
the  parties  to  adopt  proportional  voting  and  so  to 
put  an  end  to  the  conflicts  continually  provoked  by 
the  arbitrary  redistribution  of  seats.  Louis 
Ruchonnet,  with  whom  I  have  discussed  the  matter 
more  than  once,  did  not  believe  in  the  principle  of 
proportional  representation;  he  looked  upon  it  as 
a  useful  remedy  for  desperate  ills  in  the  body  poli- 
tic. Therein  he  did  not  err.  Although  the  intro- 
duction of  proportional  representation  in  Ticino 
met  with  much  criticism  and  the  distribution  of 
seats  has  had  to  be  altered  several  times,  the  ad- 
vocates of  the  system  credit  it  with  the  cessation 


PROPORTIONAL  REPRESENTATION     187 

of  the  revolutionary  outbreaks  and  the  acute  con- 
flicts of  which  this  canton  used  to  be  the  scene — 
a  result,  however,  which  others  attribute  to  the 
extension  of  popular  rights  carried  out  by  the 
new  Constitution. 

A  number  of  cantons  followed  the  example  of 
Ticino  and  adopted  P.R.  for  the  election  of  the 
Great  Council.  This  was  the  case  in  Neuchatel 
in  1891  and  in  Geneva  in  1892.  Then  followed 
in  succession  Zug  (1894),  Solothurn  (1895), 
Schwyz  (1906),  Lucerne  (1909),  St.  Gall 
(1911),  and  Zurich  (1917).  In  the  cantons  of 
Bern  and  Fribourg,  communes  may  adopt  P.R.,  if 
they  choose,  for  the  election  of  Communal  Coun- 
cils. The  state  of  the  question  in  the  Confedera- 
tion has  been  dealt  with  in  the  chapter  on  the  ini- 
tiative. 

Extolled  originally  by  the  Liberal  party  es- 
pecially, proportional  representation  has  become 
in  Switzerland  the  great  cry  of  the  Socialists. 
They  have  obtained  the  greatest  advantage  from 
it,  and  it  figures  in  the  forefront  of  their  party 
program.  The  Socialists  see  in  it  the  quickest 
means  of  coming  into  power.  The  Conservative 
party,  particularly  in  German  Switzerland,  num- 
bers many  adherents  of  the  system.  The  main 
concern  of  this  party  is  to  secure  its  maximum  rep- 
resentative strength  by  assuring  representation  for 


i88     REAL  DEMOCRACY  IN  OPERATION 

the  Catholic  minorities  scattered  about  the  con- 
stituencies of  Protestant  cantons. 

It  is  not  easy  to  form  a  final  judgment  upon  the 
results  of  proportional  representation  in  the  can- 
tons where  it  has  already  been  in  force  for  some 
years.  In  Ticino,  although  parties  are  now  repre- 
sented proportionally,  local  divisions  are  not.  The 
strict  application  of  the  system  necessitates  large 
constituencies  in  which  country  candidates  have 
less  chance  of  election  than  those  of  the  towns, 
whose  reputation  is  generally  better  known.  One 
of  the  parties  in  Ticino  has  devised  the  plan  of 
making  its  candidates  sign  an  undated  letter  of 
resignation  which  is  forwarded  to  the  president  of 
the  Great  Council  by  the  electoral  committee  in 
the  middle  of  the  legislature's  legal  term  in  order 
to  enable  the  candidates  who  were  not  elected  to 
sit  in  their  turn  during  the  latter  half  of  the 
period.  In  the  canton  of  Geneva,  where  the  ma- 
jority formerly  alternated  between  Radicals  and 
Liberals,  and  in  Neuchatel  and  Solothurn,  where 
the  Radicals  used  to  enjoy  a  majority,  no  one  party 
can  now  obtain  a  majority;  coalitions  of  groups 
form  a  majority  according  to  the  circumstances 
of  the  moment  or  according  to  agreements  which 
are  more  or  less  strictly  observed.  Similar  results 
are  to  be  seen  in  Basel-Stadt  and  in  the  canton  of 
St.  Gall.  In  Zurich,  P.R.  has  favored  the  rise 


PROPORTIONAL  REPRESENTATION     189 

of  an  agrarian  party  at  the  expense  of  the  Radi- 
cals and  Democrats.  In  Basel,  it  has  resulted  in 
a  considerable  lengthening  of  parliamentary  de- 
bates. This  effect  was  foreseen  by  M.  Alfred 
Fouillee  when  he  said  that  proportional  represen- 
tation would  turn  representative  assemblies  into 
academies.  But  there  are  academies  and 
academies.  The  speechifying  in  the  Basel  Coun- 
cil wearied  the  patience  of  the  public  to  such  an 
e,xtent  that  the  sovereign  people  only  rejected  by 
a  few  votes  an  initiative  which  would  have  effected 
a  considerable  reduction  in  the  number  of  repre- 
sentatives. 

In  general,  it  may  be  said  that  proportional  rep- 
resentation has  made  the  task  of  governments 
more  difficult  by  depriving  them  of  the  support  of 
a  solid  and  stable  majority.  It  compels  them  to 
be  continually  negotiating  with  parties,  a  trouble- 
some business,  indeed,  but  less  so  here  than  else- 
where, thanks  to  popular  rights  and  the  fixed 
duration  of  ministerial  office.  In  spite  of  these 
various  defects,  supporters  of  P.R.  maintain  that 
the  experiment  has  been  a  success,  that  the  con- 
ception of  justice  has  received  full  satisfaction  and 
that  the  practical  difficulties  so  often  emphasized 
by  its  opponents  have  been  easily  overcome.  The 
future  alone  can  decide  whether  the  proportional 
system  is  destined  to  last  or  whether  it  merely 


190     REAL  DEMOCRACY  IN  OPERATION 

corresponds  with  the  present  dividedness  of  the 
historical  parties.  For  the  moment  it  still  passes 
from  success  to  success.  The  only  check  which 
it  has  met  with  in  Switzerland  was  the  substitution 
of  a  system  of  limited  voting  instead  of  propor- 
tional voting  in  the  election  of  the  State  Council 
of  Ticino. 


CHAPTER  XII 

DEMOCRACY  IN  THE  ARMY  AND  THE  MAINTE- 
NANCE OF  NEUTRALITY 

"THE  military  organization  of  the  Confedera- 
tion is  perhaps  the  most  original,  the  most  ingen- 
ious, the  most  useful  and  the  most  beneficent  of 
Swiss  institutions,"  wrote  M.  Albert  Bonnard, 
that  remarkable  publicist  whose  recent  death  was 
such  a  loss  to  Swiss  journalism.  The  army,  too, 
is  democratic,  constituting  as  it  does  under  a  sys- 
tem of  compulsory  service  not  a  standing  army  but 
a  militia  force  simply  and  solely  for  defensive 
purposes,  the  maintenance  of  neutrality  and  inde- 
pendence. In  Switzerland  every  able-bodied  man 
is  liable  to  military  service,  but  hitherto  the  term 
of  service  has  been  very  short:  the  military  law 
of  1906  instituted  a  period  of  training  of  65  days 
for  infantry  recruits  and  rather  more  for  other 
arms  with  a  further  course  of  1 1  days  a  year  for 
ten  consecutive  years.  After  12  years'  service 
with  the  colors,  the  soldier  passes  into  the  Land- 
wehr.  From  41  to  48  years  of  age,  he  serves  in 
the  Landsturm.  The  system  of  training  is  uni- 

191 


192     REAL  DEMOCRACY  IN  OPERATION 

form  and  controlled  by  the  Confederation ;  the  ad- 
ministration is  generally  conducted  by  the  cantons. 

The  continuous  mobilization  necessitated  by  the 
war  increased  the  military  burden  enormously. 
Divisions  of  the  line  were  mobilized  for  3,  4,  5 
and  even  6  months  in  the  year.  Frequent  calls 
were  made  upon  both  Landwehr  and  Landsturm. 
The  tax  upon  citizens  unfit  for  service  was 
doubled.  But,  in  normal  times,  the  military  bur- 
den borne  by  Swiss  citizens  is  not  particularly 
heavy,  and  the  great  Socialist  orator  Jaures  was 
well  justified  in  devoting  a  whole  book  to  com- 
mending the  Swiss  Army  to  those  of  his  own  polit- 
ical faith  as  the  model  of  a  democratic  army.  By 
a  strange  contrast,  the  majority  of  militant  Swiss 
Socialists,  as  indicated  at  any  rate  in  recent  party 
congresses,  does  all  it  can  to  destroy  the  very 
basis  of  the  army  and  adheres  more  and  more  to 
uncompromising  anti-militarism.  Societies  of 
young  Socialists  preach  the  refusal  of  service  and 
do  their  utmost  to  undermine  discipline  and  shake 
the  men's  confidence  in  their  leaders.  Fortunately 
these  strange  tactics  are  the  work  of  but  a  small 
minority  of  the  Swiss  people.  The  nation  as  a 
whole  remains  patriotic,  appreciating  that  Swiss  in- 
dependence is  inseparably  bound  up  with  the  main- 
tenance of  the  army. 

Switzerland's    repudiation    of    any    kind    of 


DEMOCRACY  IN  THE  ARMY  193 

aggressive  policy  might  be  expected  to  rally  all 
citizens  without  exception  to  the  principle  of  na- 
tional defense;  but  revolutionary  circles  see  even 
in  the  militia  army  as  organized  in  Switzerland  an 
obstacle  to  the  accomplishment  of  their  designs 
and  a  weapon  in  the  power  of  capitalism.  Switzer- 
land's situation  in  the  midst  of  the  great  Euro- 
pean Powers,  occupying  with  the  fastnesses  of  the 
Alps  and  the  passes  over  them  a  strategic  position 
of  the  greatest  importance,  exposes  her  to  especial 
danger  whenever  Europe  is  ablaze;  this  fact  is 
patent  to  the  most  thoughtless,  and  it  demands 
extraordinary  ingenuousness,  'particularly  after 
Belgium's  terrible  fate,  to  imagine  that  mere 
treaty  guarantees  of  neutrality  are  sufficient  pro- 
tection. Neutrality  depends  directly  upon  the 
measure  of  defense  undertaken  to  support  it. 

The  principle  of  neutrality  is  the  basis  of  Swiss 
policy.  It  is  absolutely  beyond  dispute,  but 
Switzerland  and  the  Powers  do  not  always  see  eye 
to  eye  upon  its  scope  and  interpretation.  It  is 
103  years  ago  since  the  Congress  of  Paris,  con- 
firming the  declarations  of  the  Congress  of 
Vienna,  gave  formal  and  authentic  recognition  to 
the  neutrality  which  Switzerland  had  observed  for 
several  centuries.  The  signatory  Powers,  in  the 
declaration  of  Vienna  of  the  2Oth  March,  guaran- 
teed the  integrity  and  inviolability  of  Swiss  terri- 


194     REAL  DEMOCRACY  IN  OPERATION 

tory  and  affirmed  that  "the  neutrality  and  inviola- 
bility of  Switzerland  are  in  the  true  interests  of 
the  whole  of  Europe." 

Upon  this  declaration  the  Federal  Council  took 
its  stand  on  the  4th  August,  1914,  when  it  in- 
formed the  belligerent  States  that  "the  Confedera- 
tion, inspired  by  its  venerable  traditions,  firmly  in- 
tends to  depart  in  no  wise  from  the  principle  of 
neutrality  so  dear  to  the  Swiss  people,  which  is  in 
harmony  with  its  hopes,  its  aspirations,  its  internal 
organization  and  its  position  in  relation  to  other 
States,  and  which  the  signatory  Powers  of  the 
treaties  of  1815  formally  recognized."  The  dec- 
laration of  the  Federal  Council  emphasizes  the 
fact  that  while  Swiss  neutrality  is  recognized  by 
the  Powers,  it  is  nevertheless  voluntary.  Switzer- 
land retains  the  right  to  renounce  it,  not  only  from 
the  moment  her  neutrality  is  violated,  but  when- 
ever her  independence,  her  sovereignty  or  her 
vital  interests  are  jeopardized. 

Swiss  neutrality  may  be  endangered  not  only  by 
foreign  armies,  but  also  by  the  economic  policy 
of  the  surrounding  countries.  Without  declaring 
war,  these  countries  may  destroy  or  restrict  the 
foreign  commerce  of  Switzerland,  paralyze  her  in- 
dustries, and  reduce  her  to  famine.  They  may 
send  their  agents  into  the  country,  foment  disaffec- 
tion, and  exert  formidable  pressure  upon  public 


DEMOCRACY  IN  THE  ARMY  195 

opinion  to  render  it  compliant  with  their  interests. 
Hence  the  protection  of  Swiss  neutrality  involves 
a  host  of  different  measures  which  must  be  applied 
without  hesitation  and  continually  adapted  to  the 
needs  of  the  mome*nt.  For  this  reason,  on  the 
3rd  August,  1914,  the  Federal  Assembly  con- 
ferred plenary  powers  upon  the  French  Council 
— "unlimited  power  to  take  all  measures  neces- 
sary for  the  security,  integrity  and  neutrality  of 
Switzerland,  the  protection  of  public  credit  and 
of  the  economic  interests  of  the  country,  in  par- 
ticular of  the  food  supplies."  The  mass  of  the 
measures  taken  by  the  Federal  Council  in  some 
hundreds  of  decrees  of  every  kind  forms  what  is 
called  "the  measures  of  neutrality."  Restrictions 
have  had  to  be  placed  upon  commerce  and  indus- 
try. Monopolies  of  food  have  been  established. 
Conventions  subjecting  imports  and  the  distribu- 
tion of  imports  to  stringent  regulations  have  been 
concluded  with  both  groups  of  belligerents.  Cul- 
tivation has  been  developed  under  governmental 
control.  Practically  all  commerce  has  been  placed 
under  the  supervision  of  the  federal  Department 
of  Public  Economy.  The  exportation  of  agricul- 
tural produce  has  been  limited.  The  rationing  of 
food  has  been  introduced  as  in  a  beleaguered  city. 
Transport  rates  have  been  raised.  Measures  have 
been  taken  for  the  prevention  and  alleviation  of 


196     REAL  DEMOCRACY  IN  OPERATION 

unemployment.  Moratoria  have  been  declared. 
Ordinances  have  been  issued  for  the  suppression 
of  spying.  There  would  be  no  end  to  a  list  of  all 
that  the  country  has  done  to  adapt  itself  to  the 
abnormal  situation  and  fresh  needs  created  by 
the  state  of  war  between  the  nations  which  encircle 
its  territory  on  every  side.  To  all  the  rest  should 
be  added  the  extensive  powers  which  military  law 
confers  upon  the  commander  of  the  army  when 
troops  are  mobilized  for  active  service. 

If  the  war  had  been  of  short  duration,  the  in- 
conveniences of  this  state  of  affairs  would  not  have 
been  serious.  But  when  it  lasted  four  years,  mat- 
ters assumed  a  very  different  aspect.  The  plen- 
ary powers  of  the  Federal  Council  supplanted  the 
Federal  Assembly,  leaving  it  scarcely  a  formal 
control;  they  suppressed  preliminary  discussions  in 
the  Chambers;  they  suspended  the  right  of  refer- 
endum upon  decrees  passed  by  the  Federal  Coun- 
cil which  in  normal  times  would  have  come  within 
the  competence  of  the  Chambers.  Ultimately,  as 
a  result  of  this  process,  they  created  a  deep-seated 
discontent,  especially  in  French-speaking  Switzer- 
land, and  called  forth  lively  protests.  Despite  its 
inherent  defects,  particularly  in  a  democratic  coun- 
try, such  procedure  was  none  the  less  an  ineluc- 
table necessity.  The  only  matter  for  regret  is 
that  the  Federal  Chambers  did  not  bethink  them- 


DEMOCRACY  IN  THE  ARMY  197 

selves  of  having  the  plenary  powers  ratified  from 
the  beginning  by  submitting  to  the  people  an  addi- 
tion to  the  Constitution  empowering  the  Federal 
Council  to  take  th'e  steps  it  did.  The  final  and 
formal  authorization  of  the  sovereign  people,  in- 
stead of  the  emergency  legislation,  would  have  si- 
lenced much  criticism  and  opposition,  and  rendered 
the  temporary  suspension  of  democratic  institu- 
tions far  more  acceptable. 

The  neutrality  which  has  aroused  most  objec- 
tions is  that  which  is  more  or  less  accurately 
termed  moral  neutrality.  At  the  outset  of  the 
war,  the  Federal  Council  took  the  view  that  every 
Swiss  citizen  should  abstain,  especially  in  the 
Press,  from  any  expression  of  sympathy  and,  still 
more,  of  antipathy  towards  either  of  the  bellig- 
erents, and  a  confidential  circular  was  sent  to  the 
Press  requesting  it  to  conform  with  this  rule.  A 
recommendation  of  this  kind  might  be  justified 
from  the  point  of  view  of  political  expediency 
and  of  the  desire  of  the  government  to  avoid  jour- 
nalistic excesses  which  might  involve  it  in  serious 
difficulties.  As  for  neutrality  properly  so-called, 
the  best  jurists  have  always  recognized  that  it  can 
only  be  compromised  by  the  acts  of  the  govern- 
ment and  that  the  Press  retains  the  right  to  ex- 
press its  judgments  and  its  sympathies  upon  the 
issues  between  the  belligerents.  The  question  is 


198     REAL  DEMOCRACY  IN  OPERATION 

obviously  one  of  degree.  In  face  of  the  terrible 
conflict  of  peoples  which  had  broken  out,  it  was 
to  be  feared  that  Switzerland,  standing  between 
the  two  great  alliances  and  bound  to  both  by 
ethnic  and  other  ties,  would  be  swept  with  oppos- 
ing demonstrations  of  an  extreme  character.  The 
result  could  only  be  an  unfortunate  tension  for  the 
public  and  serious  difficulties  for  the  government, 
which  was  compelled  by  the  economic  needs  of  the 
country  to  carry  on  continuous  negotiations  with 
the  two  coalitions  engaged  in  combat  on  a  gigan- 
tic and  unprecedented  scale.  The  influence  of 
these  considerations  inspired,  three  months  later, 
an  appeal  to  the  Swiss  people  by  the  Federal 
Council,  dated  ist  October,  1914,  which  ran: 

"We  firmly  intend  to  maintain  our  neutrality  by 
all  the  means  at  the  disposal  of  our  country.  This 
attitude  has  so  far  spared  us  the  horrors  of  war, 
but  it  also  demands  from  us  duties  and  sacrifices. 
But  those  duties  and  sacrifices  are  not  clearly 
recognized  everywhere.  In  our  manner  of  pass- 
ing judgment  upon  events  and  in  the  expression 
of  our  sympathies  for  the  various  nations,  we  must 
observe  the  greatest  reserve,  avoid  anything 
which  might  injure  the  peoples  and  governments 
engaged  in  the  war  and  be  on  our  guard  against 
partiality.  To  judge  events  with  discretion  and 
moderation  by  no  means  implies  the  renunciation 


DEMOCRACY  IN  THE  ARMY  199 

of  sympathy  and  feeling;  the  heart  of  each  citizen 
will  continue  to  beat  warmly  for  those  to  whom 
he  is  attached  by  especially  intimate  bonds  or 
whose  fate  is  dear  to  him.  .  .  . 

"But  still  more  important  than  the  respect  due 
to  foreign  nations,  and  vital  to  the  interests  of  our 
country,  is  the  maintenance  among  ourselves  of 
a  vigorous  and  unshakable  unity.  This  unity, 
which  is  absolutely  essential  now  when  our  culture 
and  the  economic  and  financial  position  of  our 
country  are  so  gravely  menaced,  will  be  equally 
essential  in  the  future  when  unity  of  effort  will 
still  be  required  for  the  repair  of  these  injuries. 
History  teaches  us  that  Switzerland  has  never  un- 
dergone greater  disasters  or  suffered  greater 
losses  than  when,  torn  by  internal  strife,  she  was 
enfeebled  by  lack  of  unity.  At  this  moment,  when 
the  fate  of  peoples  hangs  in  the  balance,  let  us 
recall  these  lessons  of  history,  and  let  us  take  care, 
when  insisting  imprudently,  passionately  or  spite- 
fully upon  differences  among  ourselves,  not  to 
weaken  the  sentiments  which  unite  us,  but  rather 
to  strengthen  them  by  emphasizing  patriotically 
everything  that  brings  us  closer  one  to  an- 
other. ..." 

The  fears  of  the  Federal  Council  were  not  un- 
founded. Feeling  has  often  prevailed  over  rea- 
son, and  more  than  once  the  limits  of  propriety 


200     REAL  DEMOCRACY  IN  OPERATION 

have  been  exceeded.  Individual  failings  have 
come  to  light  in  quarters  where  they  would  have 
been  least  expected,  for  example,  upon  the  staff 
of  the  army.  Distrust,  irritation  and  misunder- 
standing were  the  result,  and  only  by  constant  ef- 
fort, together  with  the  admission  and  reparation 
of  faults  committed,  has  the  gulf  at  last  been 
closed  which  for  some  time  threatened  to  separate 
the  different  sections  of  the  Swiss  people  and  to 
mar  their  long  and  salutary  friendship. 

This  digression  was  perhaps  not  essential  to  my 
subject.  But  no  account  of  democracy  in  Switzer- 
land would  be  complete  without  reference  to  the 
army,  and  I  must  leave  the  reader  to  judge 
whether  it  was  possible  to  speak  of  the  army  with- 
out touching  upon  neutrality  and  without  saying 
a  word  about  the  temporary  suspension  of  demo- 
cratic institutions  which  has  so  sorely  tried  the 
patience  of  the  people. 


CHAPTER  XIII 

THE  FUTURE  OF  DEMOCRACY  IN  SWITZERLAND 

IN  treating  of  the  referendum,  the  initiative 
and  the  other  rights  of  the  Swiss  people,  I  en- 
deavored to  elucidate  the  more  important  of  their 
results.  With  occasional  exceptions,  direct  democ- 
racy has  conduced  to  progress,  and  has  cleared 
away  obstacles  which  hinder  it  under  other  polit- 
ical systems.  As  we  saw,  it  draws  all  classes  to- 
gether in  the  equality  of  the  ballot;  it  sets  a  limit 
to  revolutionary  agitation  by  depriving  it  of  all 
pretexts;  it  restrains  turbulent  minorities  by  as- 
suring them  a  share  in  public  affairs ;  it  frequently 
involves  discord  between  the  legislature  and  other 
political  authorities;  it  displays  little  favor  to- 
wards bureaucracy  and  big  salaries,  and  in  this 
respect  tends  at  times  to  practice  economy  at  the 
expense  of  efficiency;  it  welcomes  social  reform  but 
recoils  from  extensive  bureaucratic  machinery;  it 
worships  governmental  stability  and  retains  its 
public  men  in  office  even  till  the  verge  of  senility; 
it  professes  dislike  for  militarism,  and  sometimes 
is  induced  with  difficulty  to  make  the  sacrifices  re- 

201 


202     REAL  DEMOCRACY  IN  OPERATION 

quired  in  the  interest  of  national  defense;  it 
shows  a  decided  preference  for  graduated  taxes 
upon  capital  and  income.  Had  we  been  able  to 
investigate  its  effects  in  other  spheres,  for  ex- 
ample, in  the  departments  of  education  and  pub- 
lic works,  we  should  have  found  it  inclined  to 
open-handed  liberality,  multiplying  institutions  for 
higher,  secondary,  elementary  and  professional 
education.  Wherever  we  looked,  we  should  find 
it  well  disposed  towards  innovations  brought  for- 
ward at  the  right  moment  with  substantial  back- 
ing, and  yet  remaining  all  the  time  attached  to 
its  traditions.  An  excursion  into  the  world  of 
journalism  would  have  shown  us  a  serious  Press 
— serious  sometimes  to  boredom — a  Press  which 
so  far  has  displayed  no  alacrity  in  the  use  of  ex- 
treme violence  or  in  the  exploitation  of  sensational 
news,  a  Press  which  is  free  from  the  tutelage  of 
great  financial  interests  and  is  subsidized  neither 
by  governments  nor  by  public  men.  It  would 
seem,  indeed,  that  Switzerland  illustrates  the  pro- 
found truth  of  Tocqueville's  remark  that  "ex- 
treme democracy  anticipates  the  danger  of  democ- 
racy." 

It  must  not  be  inferred  that  everything  is  per- 
fect in  Switzerland.  Under  all  political  systems 
man  is  still  man — a  being  whose  lower  instincts 
can  be  kept  under  only  with  constant  effort.  A 


THE  FUTURE  OF  SWISS  DEMOCRACY  203 

wide  gulf  may  be  fixed  between  the  form  and  the 
spirit  of  democracy.  Especially  since  the  war, 
some  writers  have  taken  it  upon  themselves  to 
draw  up,  as  it  were,  an  indictment  against  the 
Swiss  people.  The  Swiss  have  been  reproached 
with  falling  away  from  their  ancient  republican 
dignity,  as  they  did  before  in  the  eighteenth  cen- 
tury, and  earlier  still  at  the  time  when  the  mili- 
tary capitulations  inaugurated  all  kinds  of  cor- 
ruption. They  have  been  reproached  with  their 
concern  for  material  interests  and  their  depen- 
dence upon  other  countries  which  have  led  to  the 
development  of  the  tourist  industry  and  the  intro- 
duction of  foreign  capital  in  their  industries.  They 
have  been  reproached  with  falling  far  below  that 
democratic  ideal  of  the  heroic  ages  which  history 
reveals.  Too  often,  indeed,  may  signs  be  noticed 
of  overweening  presumption.  One  would  desire 
a  feeling  of  deeper  unity  between  the  different 
classes,  greater  independence  of  the  possessors  of 
power,  and  more  real  equality  where  equality,  if 
only  as  an  expression  of  the  respect  due  to  human 
nature,  lends  dignity  rather  than  discredit.  The 
political  apathy  of  a  section  of  the  middle  class 
and,  in  one  section  of  the  working  class,  threats 
of  violence  and  even  violence  itself,  provide  addi- 
tional proof  that  the  prerequisites  for  a  demo- 
cratic State  are  not  sufficiently  understood.  In 


204     REAL  DEMOCRACY  IN  OPERATION 

spite  of  the  hostility  which  has  inspired  these 
criticisms,  it  is  impossible  to  deny  them  some  meas- 
ure of  truth.  The  words  which  the  great  Ameri- 
can moralist  Channing  addressed  to  the  people 
are  always  true:  "Do  not  allow  yourselves  to  be 
lulled  into  security  by  the  flattery  which  is  poured 
upon  you,  as  if  your  share  of  national  sovereignty 
made  you  the  equals  of  the  noblest  of  your  race. 
Many  things  and  great  you  lack.  The  remedy  is 
not  in  the  ballot  box,  nor  in  the  exercise  of  your 
political  rights;  it  is  in  the  conscientious  education 
of  yourselves  and  of  your  children." 

The  true  strength  of  Swiss  democracy  must  rest, 
not  only  upon  the  most  perfect  political  forms,  but 
even  more  upon  the  education  and  training  pro- 
vided by  the  family,  the  school,  the  church,  the 
army,  or  any  other  institution  which  may  serve 
that  end.  It  is  not  mere  chance,  but  the  realiza- 
tion of  an  urgent  need  that  makes  the  development 
of  popular  rights  coincide  with  numerous  efforts 
for  the  improvement  of  civic  education,  in  the 
widest  sense  of  the  phrase.  Only  by  striving  to 
inculcate  in  all  its  members  a  true  conception  of 
the  rights  and  duties  of  citizenship  can  the  Swiss 
democracy  gain  what  it  still  lacks,  ancl  emerge 
triumphant  from  the  tests  and  trials  which  the 
future  has  in  store. 

It  was  to  be  feared  at  one  time  that  the  future 


THE  FUTURE  OF  SWISS  DEMOCRACY  205 

would  be  gloomy.  Small  countries,  which  have 
suffered  so  much  under  the  hegemony  of  great 
ones,  seemed  threatened  with  extinction  by  trium- 
phant imperialism.  More  recently,  however,  the 
prospect  is  more  reassuring.  The  talk  which  is 
heard  on  all  sides  of  the  League  of  Nations,  the 
great  aim  advanced  by  M.  Leon  Bourgeois  before 
the  war,  is  symbolic  of  a  better  future,  based  on 
something  utterly  different  from  the  brute 
strength  of  conquering  militarism.  Nowhere  has 
that  aim  been  welcomed  more  joyfully  than  in 
Switzerland.  For  Switzerland  herself  represents 
the  League  in  miniature  through  her  achievement 
in  uniting  races  and  languages  which  elsewhere 
are  given  up  to  pitiless  conflicts.  Though  she  has 
taken  many  centuries  to  reach  her  present  happy 
situation,  it  is  not  too  much  to  look  forward  to  a 
time  when  other  nations,  after  an  experience  of 
bloodshed  and  catastrophes  without  parallel,  will 
follow  her  path  in  their  turn  and  ultimately  reach 
the  same  goal,  the  establishment  of  the  United 
States  of  the  World  which  was  the  dream  of  Kant 
and  many  another  great  philosopher.  Federative 
unions  of  various  groups  of  European  countries 
are  already  mooted,  and  the  idea  of  still  wider 
federations  which  will  lay  the  foundations  of  uni- 
versal peace  grows  apace.  The  memorable  dec- 
larations of  President  Wilson  have  opened  a  vast 


206     REAL  DEMOCRACY  IN  OPERATION 

prospect  to  those  who  do  not  despair  of  humanity. 

But  we  must  not  allow  our  dreams  to  outrun 
reality.  For  the  moment,  the  reality  still  bears  a 
decidedly  modest  aspect.  While  some  speak  of  a 
League  of  Nations,  there  are  others  who  Can  only 
conceive  of  leagues  of  nations.  Although,  in  a 
recent  pamphlet,  Viscount  Grey,  the  former 
British  Foreign  Secretary,  advocates  in  the  final 
settlement  as  a  means  of  avoiding  still  more  ter- 
rible wars  a  League  of  Nations  which  will  impose 
certain  restrictions  and  even  certain  onerous  obli- 
gations upon  each  of  its  members,  others  will  not 
listen  to  suggestions  for  the  least  restriction  upon 
sovereignty.  As  for  the  Socialists,  they  hold  that 
there  can  be  no  League  of  Nations  without  the 
abolition  of  capitalism.  In  a  word,  the  idea  as 
yet  assumes  many  different  forms.  The  point  to 
be  emphasized,  however,  is  the  almost  general 
adhesion  which  it  receives  and  the  serious  atten- 
tion which  is  paid  to  it  both  by  governments  and 
by  private  societies  established  for  the  purpose. 

No  country  is  more  interested  than  Switzerland 
in  the  success  of  these  noble  efforts.  If  the  pres- 
ent state  of  affairs  should  continue,  the  neutrality 
and  security  of  Switzerland  would  fare  ill  in  face 
of  the  advance  in  military  technique,  guns  of  ever 
increasing  range,  and  coalitions  of  military  forces 
which  she  could  not  hope  to  rival.  She  could  not 


THE  FUTURE  OF  SWISS  DEMOCRACY  207 

possibly  support  the  terrific  expenditure  which 
modern  implements  of  war  and  the  training  of 
troops  to  operate  them  involve.  As  the  cradle  of 
the  Red  Cross  and  the  headquarters  of  many 
international  organizations,  Switzerland  seems 
marked  out  more  than  any  other  country  by  her 
needs  and  her  inclinations  to  concentrate  her  ef- 
forts upon  this  object.  The  League  of  Nations 
should  surely  be  one  of  her  most  fruitful  fields 
of  action  and  the  chief  object  of  her  foreign 
policy. 

During  the  sitting  of  the  National  Council  on 
6th  June,  1918,  the  President  of  the  Confedera- 
tion, M.  Calender,  delivered  a  speech  upon  this 
subject,  from  which  I  should  like  in  concluding  to 
quote  certain  passages.  After  announcing  that 
the  Federal  Council  had  requested  a  distinguished 
jurist,  Professor  Max  Huber,  to  report  upon  all 
questions  relating  to  a  future  international  judicial 
organization  and  to  draft  plans  and  proposals  for 
submission  to  a  consultative  committee,  M.  Calen- 
der recalled  what  had  been  done  so  far  in  Europe 
towards  the  foundation  of  an  international  judi- 
cial order,  including  the  Hague  Conferences. 

"The  predominant  idea  of  the  Conference  of 
1899,  the  limitation  of  armaments,  was  in  no  wise 
achieved.  Agreements  for  the  pacific  settlement 
of  international  disputes  represent  timid  com- 


208     REAL  DEMOCRACY  IN  OPERATION 

promises  and  betray  a  skepticism  which  shrinks 
from  going  beneath  the  surface  and  tackling  the 
heart  of  the  problem.  If,  from  the  midst  of  the 
widespread  distress  in  which  the  war  has  plunged 
the  world,  we  look  back  upon  the  Conferences  of 
1899  and  1907,  we  cannot  but  think  that  a  terrible 
tragedy  was  enacted  at  those  meetings.  With  ex- 
aggerated mistrust  and  with  jealous  anxiety  for 
their  absolute  freedom  of  action,  the  nations  vied 
one  with  another  in  avoiding  anything  which,  in 
the  interest  of  peace,  was  likely  to  bind  them  to- 
gether seriously  and  effectively,  because  every 
bond  of  that  description  was  conceived  to  be  in- 
compatible with  their  sovereignty!  And  now? 
Now  all  those  States  are  mutually  dependent  by 
a  thousand  different  bonds,  which  none  of  them 
has  the  power  to  unravel.  The  sole  hope  of  safety 
lay  in  the  force  of  humanity,  of  humanity  con- 
verted to  the  ideas  of  international  friendship  and 
goodwill.  But  the  great  fatality  occurred:  while 
national  laws  within  the  States  accentuated  the 
abuses  of  competition  and  the  class-struggle,  con- 
flict of  interest  between  them  swept  away  the  com- 
paratively feeble  barriers  of  treaties  and  interna- 
tional law  and  consigned  Europe  to  the  horrors 
of  war." 

Elsewhere  in  his  speech,  M.  Calender  said: 


THE  FUTURE  OF  SWISS  DEMOCRACY     209 

"National  tradition  is  and  remains  the  most 
active  source  of  creative  power.  Our  ideal  for 
humanity  is  federative,  not  cosmopolitan.  And  as 
the  international  commonwealth  of  the  future  will 
never  imply  the  abandonment  of  national  tradition 
by  the  different  peoples,  it  will  strengthen  and 
deepen,  rather  than  weaken,  the  citizen's  feeling 
of  duty  towards  his  own  State.  We  should  strenu- 
ously reject  as  the  worst  of  sophistries  any  attempt 
by  a  Swiss  soldier  to  obtain  exemption  from  his 
military  obligations  on  the  score  of  the  hoped-for 
union  of  peoples.  So  long  as  our  country  is  ex- 
posed to  the  danger  of  war,  it  is  the  sacred  duty  of 
all  her  sons  to  hold  themselves  ready  to  give  both 
life  and  property  in  defense  of  her  freedom  and 
independence ;  he  who  is  incapable  of  fulfilling  his 
duty  to  his  own  country  cannot  be  a  useful  mem- 
ber of  the  international  commonwealth. 

"The  inference  from  all  I  have  said  can  only 
be  that  the  consolidation  of  the  principle  of  law 
and  peace  in  international  relationships  is  the  ul- 
timate aim  of  Switzerland's  foreign  policy.  For 
us  this  is  no  new  ideal.  It  springs  naturally  from 
our  history  and  national  traditions.  Our  democ- 
racy includes  four  linguistic  groups  which,  loyal 
to  their  irrevocable  covenant,  are  conscious  of 
their  profound  unity  as  one  people  on  the  basis 
of  mutual  respect.  We  are  attached  to  our  coun- 


210     REAL  DEMOCRACY  IN  OPERATION 

try  just  because  it  embraces  this  rich  diversity  in 
its  local  and  linguistic  characteristics.  It  is  the 
most  precious  element  in  our  spiritual  heritage. 
Assuredly  diversity  of  tongue  and  variety  of  eth- 
nical elements  involve  complications,  difficulties, 
and  sometimes  dangers :  the  history  of  Switzerland 
shows  it  only  too  well.  But  we  have  succeeded  in 
the  past,  and  shall  succeed  in  the  future,  in  weld- 
ing together  the  different  powers  and  tendencies 
of  our  people  in  the  great  crucible  of  creative 
national  labor.  In  truth,  fruitful  cooperation 
within  the  federal  family  depends  directly  upon 
the  strength  of  national  solidarity,  a  spirit  of 
devotion  in  all  trials,  and  absolutely  reciprocal 
confidence.  And  complete  confidence  can  only  be 
conceived  in  an  atmosphere  of  full  freedom  and 
sincere  amity.  The  greatest  poet  of  German 
Switzerland,  the  ardent  patriot  Gottfried  Keller, 
describes  the  general  policy  of  our  country  in  the 
phrase :  "Friendship  in  freedom."  Let  us  remain 
faithful  to  this  national  motto.  Then,  despite 
passing  discords  and  momentary  excitements,  we 
can  rest  assured  that  we  shall  not  fail  in  our  his- 
toric mission.  The  history  of  Switzerland  is  that 
of  the  development  of  international  relations  in 
miniature.  And  the  political  life  of  our  State  as  a 
whole  is,  in  form,  the  precursor  of  the  future 
League  of  Nations.  Never  has  the  international 


THE  FUTURE  OF  SWISS  DEMOCRACY     21 1 

mission  of  a  people  been  more  clearly  and  defi- 
nitely marked  out  than  that  which  lies  before 
Switzerland — to  be  the  harbinger  of  concord  be- 
tween all  peoples  by  proving  to  the  world  through 
its  own  example  that  populations  differing  in  race 
and  language  may  unite  to  form  a  happy  common- 
wealth  on  the  basis  of  mutual  confidence,  freedom 
and  equality  of  rights." 

Turning  in  conclusion  to  concrete  proposals,  the 
President  of  the  Confederation  pointed  out  that 
the  first  practical  result  to  be  aimed  at  should  be 
the  creation  of  institutions  for  the  peaceful  settle- 
ment of  disputes  between  States.  Justiciable 
questions  should  be  investigated  and  determined 
according  to  strict  judicial  procedure ;  they  should 
be  referred  to  international  arbitration,  and  States 
must  be  induced  to  pledge  themselves  without 
reservation  to  submit  justiciable  disputes  within 
certain  well-defined  limits  to  a  court  of  arbitration. 
Non-justiciable  disputes,  on  the  other  hand, 
should  be  dealt  with  by  special  machinery  for 
mediation.  Here,  again,  it  must  not  be  left  to  the 
States  involved  to  decide  whether  or  no  such  medi- 
ation should  be  resorted  to  in  the  case  of  an  im- 
pending dispute.  All  States  should  be  required  to 
bind  themselves  to  await  the  suggestions  of  the 
mediating  authority  before  having  recourse  to 
war.  The  possibility  of  persuading  them  to  recog- 


212     REAL  DEMOCRACY  IN  OPERATION 

nize  these  proposals  as  binding  from  the  outset 
is  a  delicate  question  which  remains  to  be  exam- 
ined more  thoroughly.  It  is  highly  important  to 
ensure  that  any  institution  set  up,  whether  court 
of  arbitration  or  mediatory  body,  should  be  per- 
manent and  enjoy  a  certain  amount  of  indepen- 
dence. 

The  crucial  point  of  the  whole  problem  is  the 
question  of  sanction.  Sanction  might  conceivably 
take  the  form  of  economic  pressure  or  even  mili- 
tary force,  but  the  possibility  of  applying  either 
will  depend  upon  the  degree  of  solidarity  in  the 
international  commonwealth.  This  extremely 
delicate  aspect  of  the  problem  cannot  be  shelved; 
we  must  study  it  with  the  greatest  care,  taking 
into  consideration  the  peculiar  judicial  and  eco- 
nomic situation  of  Switzerland. 

The  principal  object  to  be  achieved  is  to  guaran- 
tee peace  by  devising  means  for  preventing  inter- 
national differences  from  developing  into  danger- 
ous conflicts;  but  it  is  not  the  only  object  to  which 
we  should  apply  ourselves.  The  development  of 
international  judicial  organization  in  general  must 
not  be  neglected:  the  structure  begun  at  The 
Hague  must  be  systematically  perfected. 

Finally  we  must  not  forget  that  home  and 
foreign  politics  are  closely  allied.  Although  the 
incidents  of  war  disturb  and  obstruct  the  progress 


THE  FUTURE  OF  SWISS  DEMOCRACY     213 

of  society,  one  can  no  more  expect  lasting  peace 
between  States  so  long  as  the  various  sections  and 
classes  of  all  peoples  welter  in  a  hideous  struggle 
for  wealth  and  power. 

M.  Calender's  speech  provides  an  apt  summary 
of  the  present  position  of  the  problem  and  of  those 
aspects  of  it  which  are  peculiar  to  Switzerland. 

I  conclude  this  brief  study  with  the  hope  that,  in 
the  future  development  of  European  political  in- 
stitutions, statesmen  and  other  representatives  of 
the  people  will  be  enabled  to  take  advantage  of 
the  experiments  with  democratic  institutions  which 
Switzerland  has  carried  out.  The  keen  percep- 
tion and  sympathetic  intuition  of  great  poets  has 
often  penetrated  and  forecast  the  future.  So 
should  it  be  with  the  author  of  La  Legende  des 
Siecles  when  he  wrote  that  ' 'Switzerland  will  al- 
ways have  the  last  word  in  history."  But  this 
honor  will  only  be  hers  if  she  strives  unceasingly 
and  ever  more  earnestly  to  be  worthy  of  it. 

LAUSANNE,. 

i^th  September,  1918. 


APPENDIX 

THIS  work  was  in  the  hands  of  the  printers 
when,  quite  unexpectedly,  those  great  events  oc- 
curred which  brought  the  war  to  an  end,  over- 
threw all  the  thrones  in  Germany  and  produced 
a  political  and  social  confusion  the  end  of  which 
we  cannot  yet  foresee.  Switzerland  was  not  com- 
pletely spared.  Encouraged  probably  by  the  re- 
sult of  the  popular  vote  of  the  I3th  October,  on 
proportional  representation,  and  anxious  to  take 
advantage  of  the  state  of  mind  created  by  the  food 
problem,  the  extreme  elements  in  the  Socialist 
movement  thought  the  moment  a  favorable  one 
in  which  to  achieve  their  own  ends.  Already  dur- 
ing the  war,  several  Socialist  leaders  had  pro- 
ceeded to  Petrograd  via  Berlin,  and  had  entered 
into  close  relationship  with  the  leading  Bolsheviks. 
Without  official  recognition,  -a  Bolshevist  legation 
was  established  in  Bern  which  conspired  to  main- 
tain in  our  country  one  of  those  hotbeds  of  revo- 
lution to  which  the  Russian  maximalist  party  looks 
for  its  salvation. 

It  is  in  Zurich  that  the  revolutionary  element  is 
most  numerous  and  most  daring.  A  few  weeks 

215 


2i6  APPENDIX 

ago  the  cantonal  government  discovered  unmis- 
takable indications  of  a  plot  to  overthrow  its 
sovereignty  by  violent  methods.  The  revolution- 
aries intended  to  take  possession  of  the  arsenal 
and  to  set  fire  to  public  buildings. 

At  the  request  of  the  cantonal  government,  the 
Federal  Council  sent  troops  to  Zurich  for  the 
maintenance  of  order  and  public  safety.  At  the 
same  time  it  requested  the  Bolshevist  legation  to 
leave  the  country,  and  decided  to  deport  a  Russian 
agitator,  a  woman  who  had  been  working  for 
years  in  Switzerland.  The  Socialist  executive 
committee  characterized  these  measures  as  pro- 
vocative, called  upon  the  Federal  Council  to  re- 
peal them,  and  upon  its  refusal  to  do  so  called  a 
general  political  strike  (Landesstreik) .  A  new 
government — probably  the  executive  committee 
itself — was  to  carry  out,  until  something  better 
could  be  drafted,  the  following  program: 

i..  The  immediate  reelection  of  the  National 
Council  on  the  basis  of  proportional  representa- 
tion. 2.  Woman  suffrage  and  the  removal  of  all 
sex  disabilities.  3.  The  introduction  of  a  system 
of  compulsory  work  for  all.  4.  A  forty-eight 
hour  working  week  in  all  public  and  private  under- 
takings. 5.  The  conversion  of  the  existing  army 
into  a  democratic  army.  6.  Revictualing  to  be 
arranged  with  the  cooperation  of  the  agricultural 


APPENDIX  217 

producers.  7.  Old  Age  and  Health  Insurance. 
8.  State  monopolies  in  imports  and  exports.  9. 
The  redemption  of  the  entire  National  Debt  by 
the  holders  of  wealth. 

This  transition  program  seemed  one  likely  to 
rally  all  the  various  elements  in  the  Socialist 
party. 

What  was  to  be  the  upshot  of  it?  Would  the 
revolutionary  movement  be  strong  enough  to  im- 
pose its  will  and  overthrow  the  government?  Or 
indeed,  would  the  federal  authorities  find  them- 
selves forced  to  acquiesce?  Would  a  century  of 
democracy  see  for  its  reward  the  triumph  of 
anarchy? 

Events  have  not  taken  the  course  anticipated  by 
the  Socialist  executive  committee.  Far  from  al- 
lowing itself  to  be  intimidated,  the  Federal  Coun- 
cil immediately  summoned  together  the  Federal 
Chambers,  and  ordered  the  accelerated  mobiliza- 
tion of  the  first  division  of  the  Army,  drawn  from 
Vaud,  Geneva,  and  Valais,  and  of  units  from 
other  divisions,  comprising  in  all  some  fifty  bat- 
talions of  infantry  and  numerous  special  troops. 
The  session  of  the  Chambers,  which  lasted  for 
three  days,  ended  in  a  vote  expressing  unqualified 
approval  of  the  measures  adopted  by  the  Federal 
Council.  The  leaders  of  the  non-Socialist  groups 
— Radicals,  Liberals,  Democrats,  Catholic  Con,- 


218  APPENDIX 

servatives — were  unanimous  in  their  condemna- 
tion of  the  outrage  by  means  of  which  a  violent 
minority  had  sought  to  establish  their  supremacy 
in  place  of  that  of  the  recognized  institutions  of 
the  nation.  All  denounced  vigorously  an  enter- 
prise peculiarly  criminal  in  a  country  where  the 
people  enjoy  the  most  extensive  rights  and  pos- 
sess all  the  means  of  introducing  by  constitutional 
methods  such  reforms  as  they  feel  to  be  necessary. 

In  the  meantime,  the  mobilization  of  the  first 
division  was  accomplished  in  a  highly  satisfactory 
manner.  The  attempts  to  instill  the  spirit  of  in- 
subordination into  our  citizen  army  met  with  in- 
dignant protest.  In  all  the  principal  cities  law- 
abiding  men  organized  themselves;  Citizen 
Guards  were  formed  to  support  existing  author- 
ity; shooting,  gymnastic,  musical  and  sports  clubs, 
societies  of  young  men  engaged  in  trade  or  in 
agriculture,  all  proclaimed  their  determination  to 
defend  democratic  institutions  against  revolution- 
ary assaults  with  the  utmost  vigor. 

From  the  commencement  the  strike  had  only  a 
partial  success,  especially  in  French  Switzerland 
where  a  very  large  number  of  workmen  refused 
to  down  tools  and  obey  the  word  of  command. 
Its  gravity  lay  in  the  support  of  the  printing  trade, 
by  which  the  strike  stifled  the  voice  of  public  opin- 
ion and  enabled  the  executive  committee  to  spread 


APPENDIX  219 

the  most  disquieting  rumors  about  the  temper  of 
the  army,  and  in  that  of  the  employees  of  the  fed- 
eral railways  whom  the  Socialist  leaders  had  won 
after  many  years  of  persistent  propaganda.  But 
even  on  the  second  day  of  the  strike,  vigorous 
protests  arose  from  the  body  of  railwaymen 
against  the  manner  in  which  their  organization  had 
been  rushed  into  lending  its  support.  Feeling  that 
they  had  with  them  the  whole-hearted  support  of 
the  Chambers  and  of  public  opinion,  the  Federal 
Council  on  the  I3th  November  presented  an  ul- 
timatum to  the  strike  committee  calling  for  the 
termination  of  the  strike  before  midnight.  The 
committee  tried  to  evade,  to  make  stipulations,  to 
obtain  guarantees  which  it  could  have  represented 
as  concessions  or  promises.  The  Federal  Council 
refused  point  blank,  and  at  half-past  one  at  night 
— the  procrastination  had  lasted  for  two  hours-*- 
the  executive  strike  committee  gave  in  uncondi- 
tionally. It  recoiled  from  the  prospect  of  a  civil 
war  in  which  it  knew  defeat  to  be  inevitable.  In 
the  proclamation  which  it  issued  to  the  strikers  it 
gave  as  the  reason  for  its  capitulation  the  attitude 
of  the  troops  and  the  railway  employees.  They 
should  have  added  to  this  the  attitude  of  the  great 
majority  of  the  population,  who  showed  their  hos- 
tility towards  the  general  strike  with  extraor- 
dinary force  and  decision, 


220  APPENDIX 

Certainly,  all  is  not  over,  and  the  Socialist  com- 
mittee has  taken  care  to  warn  us  that  the  fight 
was  only  postponed;  but  the  Swiss  Press  is  none 
the  less  justified  in  celebrating  the  result  of  the 
conflict  as  a  triumph  for  democracy.  That  the 
people  have  reacted  so  strongly  against  this  at- 
tempt to  spoke  the  working  of  our  institutions, 
that  the  army  has  fulfilled  its  duties  so  cheerfully, 
is  proof  that  the  Swiss  nation  knows  that  it  pos- 
sesses all  desirable  methods  for  the  bringing 
about  of  timely  reforms. 

It  is  too  fully  aware  of  its  powers  and  its  rights 
to  bow  voluntarily  under  the  yoke  of  an  extreme 
minority,  a  class  dictatorship,  after  having  thrown 
off  that  of  the  old  oligarchies.  If  popular  rights 
had  not  been  in  existence,  if  it  had  been  impossible 
to  oppose  revolution  by  democracy,  the  situation 
would  certainly  have  been  much  more  critical. 

It  is  probable  that  one  consequence  of  these 
events  will  be  a  further  development  of  the  rights 
of  the  people.  It  seems  desirable  that  the  Fed- 
eral Chambers  should  have  the  right  to  submit 
certain  questions  directly  to  the  people  without  the 
preliminary  step  of  the  initiative,  as  is  done  in 
several  cantons,  and  in  this  way  deprive  revolu- 
tionaries of  their  last  pretext  of  acting  in  the 
name  of  the  people  whose  rights  they  usurp. 


INDEX 


INDEX 


Aargau,    35,    37.   86,   107,    109, 

126,   142,   167,   169-70,   176 
Absinthe,    prohibition    of,    see 

Liquor   traffic 
Act  of  Mediation   of   1798,   8, 

50-1 

Alpnach,  75 

Appenzell,  24,  42,  46,  47,  72 
Appenzell-Ausserrhodem,      47, 

5°,    53-55,    58,    65-6,    71-2, 

73,  109,  164,  167,  175-6 
Appenzell-Innerrhoden,  50,73, 

167 
Army,   2,    14,    15,    93-4,    101-2, 

191-93,  196,  216,  217 

Babceuf,  Gracchus,  30 

Bank  notes,  federal  monopoly 

of,  95 

Basel,  23,  24 
Basel-Land,  35,  85-86,  106,  107, 

167. 
Basel-Stadt,    33,    86,    90,    106, 

107,  141-143,  163,  167,  169, 

176,  188-9. 
Bellinzone,  24 
Bern,  23,  25-8,  34,  37,  43,  85-6, 

88,     107,     no,     128,     141, 

148-9,  157-8,  162,  167,  170, 

172,  185,  187 
Berney,  Prof.  Jacques,  118-19, 

123-4 

Blenio,   24 

Bonnard,  Albert,  quoted,  191 
Bourgeois,  M.  Leon,  205 
Buchez,  P.  J.,  quoted,  6,   16 
Burkhardt,  Jacob,  quoted,  n-2 

Calender,  M.,  quoted,  207-13 
Capital  punishment,  49,  95 


Capitulations,  military,  33,  50 

Carouge,   165 

Centralization,  tendency  to- 
wards, 10  ff.,  113 

Chamillard,  M.  de,  74 

Channing,   quoted,  204 

Clemenceau,   M.,   181 

Commugny,    136 

Considerant,  Victor,  quoted, 
75-76 

Coppet,  136 

Council  of  States,  2 

Curti,  Th.,  25 

Debts,    law    for    recovery    of, 

102,    100-5,    IO7 
Delarageaz,  Louis-Henri,   33 
Diet,  i,  9,  74 

Droz,  Numa,  79,   151-4,   183-4 
Dubs,    J.,    Manuel    de    Droit 

public,  quoted,  6-7 

Echallens,  26,   171 
Education,   14,   63,  65,   95,   98, 

106,  107,  iio-i,  1 60 
Einsiedeln,  24 
Engelberg,  24 
Entremonts,  42 
Esmein,  M.,  77-8,  184 

Factory  legislation,  93 

Fatio,  27 

Federal  Assembly,  83,  96,  104, 
120,  122,  150,  156,  184,  195 

Federal  Council,  2-3,  49,  96, 
123,  134,  138-9,  149-54, 
194-200,  207,  217,  219 

Federal  Court,  2,  120,  155-6 

Fleiner,   Fr.,  quoted,   11-12 


223 


224 


INDEX 


Food  control,  15,  49,   195 
"Formulated  initiative,"  118  ff. 
Forrer,  L.,  101 
Fouillee,   Alfred,   quoted,    184, 

189 

French  Revolution,  30 
Fribourg,  26,  39,  86,  109,  118, 

126,    128,    144,    157,    167, 

170-1,   187 

Games  of  chance,  135 
Geneva,    23,    27,    86,    90,    107, 

129,  137,  142*  *43»  *44»  *56» 

158,  163,  165,  167,  178,  187, 

188 

Gersau,  42,  50 
Glarus,  24,  42,   50,  51,  55,   58, 

72-3,  167 

Glarus,   Constitution  of,   64-65 
Grey,  Viscount,  206 
Grisons,  27,  86,  88,  107-8,  128, 

148,    150,    163,    167,    169, 

176 
Guizot,   131,   177-8 

Hagenbach-Bischoff,  180 
Hague  Conferences,  207-8 
Hasli,  24 
Heer,     Landammann,     quoted, 

55-7 

Helvetii,  24 
Henzi,  28 
Hilty,   M.,   139 
Huber,  Prof.  Max,  207 
Huissier,  61,  63,  66,  70,  71 

Individual,   rights  of,  2,   61-2, 

66,  120,  167 
Insurance,  public,  15,  71-2,  72- 

3,   95,    101,    108,    142,   217 

Jaures,   192 

Jerry -mandering,   118 

Jesus,     Society     of,     excluded, 

166-7 
Judiciary,       appointment      of, 

155-7 


Karolyi,  Count,  quoted,  7 
Kaufmann,  Dr.  Paul,  109 
Keller,  Gottfried,  quoted,  210 

Lampert,  M.,  167 
Landammann,  9,  44,  45-6,  47-8, 

52,  53-5 

Landbuch,  51 

Landsturm,  191-2 

Landwehr,  191-2 

Lanfray,  136 

Lausanne,  103 

League  of  Nations  and  Switz- 
erland, 205-13 

Liquor  traffic,  95,  99-100,  134, 
135-8 

Louis-Philippe,   131 

Luc,  Comte  du,  quoted,  74 

Lucerne,  33,  37,  43,  86,  89,  147, 
161-2,  167,  187 

Matches,  referendum  on  fed- 
eral monopoly  of,  93 

"Memorial"  (in  canton  of 
Glarus),  64-5 

Micheli,  Jacques  Barthelemy, 
27 

Monnier,  Marc,  quoted,  145 

Montesquieu,  L'Esprit  des  Lois, 
quoted,  4-5,  173 

Morat,  170 

"Motion"  (form  of  initiative), 
118-9 

Nabholz,  M.,  19 
Nachgemeinde,  44 
Napoleon,  8-10,  51,  74 
National   Bank,   15,    100-1 
National  Council,  2,  116-7,  133, 

134,   150,    178,  207 
Nationalization  of  railways,  3, 

15,  100 

Naville,  Ernest,   180 
Neuchatel,  23,  35,  86,  90,  128, 

156,  163,  164-5,  167-8,  171, 

175,   178,   187,   1 88 
Neue  Ziircher  Zeitung,  quoted, 

in 
Neutrality,  193-200 


INDEX 


225 


Nidwalden,    42,    44,    47-8,    50, 

52,  68-9,  73,  167 
Nidwalden,     Constitution     of, 

63-4 

Obersimmenthal,  24 
Obwalden,  42,  44,  50,  62,  70-1, 

73,  167 
Obwalden,      Constitution      of, 

61-3 

Orbe,  26 
Orgetorix,  24 

Patent  law,  referenda  on,  94 
"Plus"  system  of  voting,  26 
Prohibition,   see  Liquor   traffic 
Prussia,  king  of,  35 
Puisieux,  Marquis  de,  quoted, 
74 

Railways,    nationalization    of, 

3,  15,  100 
Rambert,   Eugene,   quoted,    13, 

20,  40,  41,  53,  55 
Recall,  37,  145-6 
Recueil   des   constitutions  fed- 
erates   et    cantonales,    129 
Renouvier,  M.,  quoted,  181-84 
Rhodes-Exterieures,     see    Ap- 

penzell-Ausserrhoden 
Rhodes-Interieures,  see  Appen- 

zell-Innerrhoden 
Rights    of    the    individual,    2, 

61-2,  66-7,  120,  168 
Right  to  work,  13273 
Rittinghausen,  77 
Romansch,  150 
Rossel,  Virgile,  quoted,  21 
Rousseau,  28-9,  80 
Ruchonnet,    Louis,    17,    103-5, 

115,  186 

St.  Cloud,  8 

St.  Gall,   23,   32,   86,  90,    108, 

109,  126,  141,  167,  169,  187, 

188 

Sarnen,   53,  70 
Schaffhausen,  35,  37,  86,  88-9, 

126,  128,  167,  169,  176 


Schwyz,  24,  34,  41-2,  44,  46, 
50,  57,  86,  107,  126,  167, 
187 

Seippel,  P.,  quoted,  13 

Seychelles,  Herault  de,  80-1 

Shakespeare,  The  Taming  of 
the  Shrew,  quoted,  178-9 

Sion,  27 

Solothurn,  37,  86,  88,  106,  108, 
142,  148,  167,  168,  176,  187, 
188 

Sonderbund,   50 

Sovereignty,  federal  and  can- 
tonal, 3-4,  13  ff.,  36,  38, 
5i-2,  85-7,  122  ff-,  133,  139- 
4i 

Stans,  46,  47,  48,  51,  53,  68 

Strike,  general,  of  November, 
1918,  215-20 

Taxation,  14,  16,  49,  60,  65,  68, 

72,  88,    91,   95-7,   98,    100, 
106,     107,     108     ff.,     133, 
134-6,  138-9,  141,  142,  165 

Thirteen  Cantons,  Confedera- 
tion of,  50,  74-5 

Thurgau,  34-5,  36-7,  86,  107, 
148,  167,  176 

Ticino,  12,  86,  90,  106,  107, 
148,  167,  186-7,  J88,  190 

Tocqueville,  quoted,  202 

Toggenburg,  Landsgemeinde 
of,  24 

Trogen,  53,  71 

United   States  of  America,   i, 

14,  21 

Unterwalden,  24,  41 
Uri,  23,  24,  42,  44,  50,  52,  67-8, 

73,  167 

Uri,  Constitution  of,  58-60 
Urseren,    24,    42,    50 

Vaccination,  compulsory,   98 
Valais,  26,  33,  35,  39,  86,  88, 

106-7,   144,   149,    163,   167, 

171 
Vaud,  23,  26,  33-4,  35,  86,  88, 

91,  107,  no,  126,  129,  136- 


226  INDEX 

Vaud,  Continued:  Wilson,  President,  205-6 

137,      142-3,      149,      156-7,  Zug,  24,  34,  42,  50,  86,  89,  107, 

163-4,   167,   171,   175,   178  108,     126,    148,     167,     168, 

Veto    (form    of    referendum),  187 

32-3,  34-5,  83-4  Zurich,    23,    27,    28,    36-7,    43, 

86-7,  88,  107,  no,  in,  126- 

Water  power,  15,  134  7,  142,  IS7y  160-1,  168,  172, 

Wil,  68  176,  187,  188-9,  215-16 


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